As it turned out, Soul Society's intelligence network was as lousy as ever.
Or rather, the moment anything involved the nobles—especially the Five Great Noble Clans—Soul Society's intel apparatus suddenly became bound hand and foot, unable to perform anywhere near its true capacity.
The only things Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni had been able to tell Higashino Shuuichi were the stories of Sakahone Saizō back when he was Captain of the original 13th Division in the first Gotei 13—during his era as a "great criminal"—and the detailed effect of his Zanpakutō's ability.
Among those first-generation captains, there had been quite a few like Sakahone Saizō: vicious criminals whom Yamamoto had subdued purely through force, but who had never fully submitted in their hearts.
They had accepted the roles of Gotei 13 captains only under the pressure of Yamamoto Genryūsai's overwhelming strength; in truth, every single one of them harbored their own schemes.
The prime example was the 11th Division's captain in that original Gotei 13: Unohana Retsu—whose name at the time had still been Unohana Yachiru.
Even now, Unohana Retsu mostly just went through the motions of her duties. Anything that didn't interest her, she half-heartedly phoned in, even if the matter in question might threaten Soul Society itself. As long as it didn't pique her curiosity, Unohana would simply stand by and watch.
That had been the case back when it came to Higashino Shuuichi, and later, during the Kasumiooji clan rebellion, Urahara Kisuke's defection, Baraggan's invasion of Seireitei, and so on as well.
In all of those incidents, you could say Unohana took part—but only barely.
That attitude was completely at odds with her status as a captain. But unlike Sakahone Saizō, who had openly challenged Yamamoto Genryūsai a second time, she had chosen to look elsewhere for opponents. That, in a sense, was Unohana Retsu's final act of gentleness.
Yamamoto knew this very clearly, which was why Unohana's position as 4th Division captain remained so immovably secure. He was using that captain's seat to keep her anchored, to prevent her from reverting to the state she'd been in during her "great criminal" days and throwing all of Soul Society into turmoil.
Back then, he had believed that, after he sacrificed a number of captains he considered prone to causing trouble in order to face down Yhwach, the Quincy King, those worries would finally disappear for good.
Never in his wildest imagination had Yamamoto Genryūsai expected that those captains of the past would return to Soul Society in this way.
This entire matter had far exceeded anything he had anticipated.
"So you're saying it isn't that Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni didn't know—it's that you never told him the full truth back then?"
Seated on the cushion, Higashino Shuuichi looked at the 8th Division Captain Kyōraku Shunsui, who had just walked in and promptly dropped himself down cross-legged, haori open and posture completely relaxed, one hand planted on the floor.
After returning from the 1st Division empty-handed, Higashino Shuuichi had unexpectedly received an invitation from Kuchiki Byakuya, current head of the Kuchiki clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans. Byakuya had requested that he visit the Kuchiki estate for a talk.
Higashino Shuuichi was fairly certain that, ever since Kuchiki Ginrei's passing, he'd had no dealings with the Kuchiki clan whatsoever. Let alone Kuchiki Byakuya—even with his father, Kuchiki Sōjun, Shuuichi doubted he had exchanged as many as ten sentences in total.
The only truly formal meeting he'd ever had with Kuchiki Byakuya had probably been at Byakuya and Kuchiki Hisana's wedding ceremony.
Which was why Higashino Shuuichi was sure this invitation hadn't been Byakuya's own idea. There had to be someone else behind it.
And in Soul Society as it stood now, there weren't many people who could persuade Kuchiki Byakuya to do such a thing. Coincidentally, Higashino Shuuichi knew of a man who did belong in that very small category—and when he counted back the years, he realized that nearly ten years had passed since he'd returned to Soul Society from that fabricated future.
By that reckoning, it was about time that man came looking for him again.
So Higashino Shuuichi had accepted the invitation.
Just as he'd anticipated, when he arrived at the room Kuchiki Byakuya had prepared, that man—Kyōraku Shunsui—was already there, drinking happily.
"Going straight for the jugular the moment you walk in, huh?
Shouldn't old friends at least share a few drinks and catch up before getting down to business?"
Kyōraku smiled at Higashino Shuuichi as he spoke.
"Old friends?
Are you talking about the 8th Division Captain who chased me from Soul Society all the way to Hueco Mundo and almost killed me back then?
Or the 8th Division Captain who assigned a 'traitor to Soul Society' like me a mission so dangerous I nearly didn't make it back?
Whichever one you mean, neither sounds like something an old friend would do."
Higashino Shuuichi sat upright, gaze fixed on Kyōraku as he replied.
"Mm-hmm. On the surface, I'll admit those two things do make me look pretty bad. But I believe that with your intelligence, Shuuichi-kun, you should've long since seen the intention behind them.
Otherwise, you wouldn't have come today… would you?"
Kyōraku's expression didn't so much as twitch in the face of Shuuichi's sarcasm.
"Is that so? And here I thought I was answering an invitation from Kuchiki Byakuya, head of the Kuchiki clan.
Am I misremembering in my old age?
How did the 8th Division Captain happen to be the one I ran into here?"
Since Kyōraku didn't want to spell things out and insisted on playing dumb, Higashino Shuuichi was happy to play along.
After all, the one who was truly pressed for time here wasn't him—it was Kyōraku Shunsui.
"All right, enough. You're not the kind of Shinigami who doesn't understand anything, Shuuichi. The two of us don't need to keep stringing each other along like this…"
Sure enough, once Kyōraku saw Higashino refusing to give him an inch, he put away his usual frivolous demeanor, straightened his back, and his face turned serious.
"Back then, I'm sure you understood what I was doing. I only wanted to see where you stood in that kind of situation.
And the goal I had then… is one you've already achieved."
"So it was like that. Back then you were already paving the way for me to infiltrate the Tsunayashiro clan, weren't you?
You'd noticed the nobles' movements—but as the 8th Division Captain, you lacked the authority to take any further action, because the Head Captain wouldn't allow it.
And right around that time, I appeared—someone who perfectly fit all the nobles' selection criteria. Even the fact that I was Hollowfied became a plus instead of a minus. Once I returned to Soul Society, I'd be left with no choice but to cling to the nobles for support.
Because without the backing of those noble houses, the Head Captain would never allow a Hollowfied Shinigami like me to walk openly in Soul Society.
In other words, as long as the Head Captain remains in his seat, I cannot betray those nobles. If they fall, I'm guaranteed to be the next one to go.
That's what you were betting on, wasn't it?"
With Kyōraku finally acknowledging his old suspicions, Higashino Shuuichi gave a low snort.
What's more, he suspected that the reason 13th Division Captain Ukitake Jūshirō had agreed to send Shiba Kaien to the World of the Living ahead of time might well have had a little nudge from Kyōraku in the background as well.
That little speech Kyōraku had given him in Hueco Mundo back then—on the surface, it had sounded like he was suggesting Shuuichi go back to the World of the Living and discuss things with Urahara Kisuke. But under the surface, there was every chance it had all been arranged in advance.
Whether or not Urahara involved him in the Osaka Prefecture incident afterwards, Kyōraku could still spread the word in Soul Society that Higashino Shuuichi had taken part and protected Shiba Kaien.
It wouldn't be difficult to accomplish—just get Kaien to give a little false testimony in private and it would all line up.
The only thing Kyōraku hadn't predicted was that, in that incident, Higashino Shuuichi had practically carried the entire operation on his own back.
"I knew it. With your IQ, Shuuichi, you'd have seen right through my setup sooner or later."
Kyōraku laughed heartily and drank a full cup in front of Shuuichi before continuing,
"Back then, before the Asauchi theft incident in Osaka even happened, while we were still investigating the Kasumiooji rebellion, I noticed that the Tsunayashiro clan's retainers were traveling between Soul Society and the World of the Living far too frequently.
And for an extended stretch of time, the Tsunayashiro were quietly taking a large number of copies from the documents stored in the 12th Division's archives.
But when I tried to press the investigation further, the old man shut me down.
His reason was that, with the Kasumiooji incident having just taken place, we couldn't risk provoking the nobles again—especially not a member of the Five Great Noble Clans like the Tsunayashiro.
Ridiculous, isn't it?
But that's reality."
A bitter smile appeared on Kyōraku's face. To see such an expression on his face was rare enough to be startling—which only underscored just how deeply the matter had shaken him.
Higashino Shuuichi suspected that it was precisely this one refusal from Yamamoto that had pushed Kyōraku to make up his mind: if he couldn't act openly, he would secretly see this "big job" done behind the old man's back.
And the executor he chose was Higashino Shuuichi.
Instead of dwelling on his regrets over the Head Captain, Kyōraku carried on,
"At that point, a suspicion formed in my mind: what if the failure of the Tsunayashiro rebellion had actually been a successful test run?
Originally, all those nobles had tacitly accepted Soul Society's current structure. But in the Kasumiooji incident, the old man ultimately backed down. That must have made the nobles realize that they could have their own private armed forces. As long as they acted tough enough and presented him with a done deal, the old man would compromise for the sake of 'the bigger picture.'"
Higashino nodded slightly. Kyōraku's line of thought was something he and Aizen had already discussed and agreed on.
What Yamamoto Genryūsai absolutely shouldn't have done in that prolonged debate over how to deal with the Kasumiooji clan was retreat. For the sake of the "greater good" and the nobles' pride, he had chosen to compromise.
That one step back had opened an entirely new world of possibilities for the noble houses.
"In other words, Yamamoto Genryūsai really is old—not just physically, but in his mindset as well."
Higashino Shuuichi sighed inwardly.
At the same time, he knew Yamamoto still had his own path to walk.
He would have to raise his old, scarred back one last time to shield a Soul Society on the brink of storm—and pay for it with his life.
Whether from Aizen Sōsuke's perspective, Yhwach's, Tokinada Tsunayashiro's, or that of the many future threats yet to come—Yamamoto had to die.
He was rotten, yes—but he was also the towering peak that every future challenger to the existing order would have to surpass.
"So you chose to go the other way—to send someone into their ranks instead.
Only, at that point, it was still only a suspicion.
Any doubts you had about the Tsunayashiro clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans, could only exist inside your own head. You couldn't say them out loud.
If word got out, you'd become everyone's target, and any future move you wanted to make would become ten times harder.
So the only thing you could do was test me in that roundabout way, without ever stating your intentions outright.
And if I'm not mistaken, even up until the moment Sakahone Saizō reappeared, you still weren't sure whether your suspicion was right, were you?"
Higashino Shuuichi now understood perfectly why Kyōraku had chosen this moment to meet him.
At the end of the day, it was because Kyōraku Shunsui had never been sure.
He had the keen nose of a first-rate intelligence officer, but not the absolute confidence to match.
With one exception.
There was a certain member of the Tsunayashiro clan in whom Kyōraku might have invested an overabundance of faith.
And then, of course, there was another factor: Kyōraku hadn't been entirely sure whether the Higashino Shuuichi who had returned this time was truly the same man who had once passed his test.
From Shuuichi's perspective, he had only been gone from the World of the Living for a few days. But from Kyōraku's, Higashino Shuuichi had disappeared for ten years.
Ten years was more than enough time for a person to completely change their outlook.
It was only when Shuuichi had carried Sakahone Saizō to the Gotei 13 and openly demanded answers that Kyōraku had finally been convinced: Higashino Shuuichi was still the man he'd known in the past.
Aside from his power having grown a bit too monstrous, nothing in him had changed.
"Heh… you're right.
In fact, there's another investigation I never submitted to the old man or to Central 46."
Now that Higashino Shuuichi had more or less pieced together the entire chain of events, Kyōraku simply ended their little trip down memory lane.
With their positions laid bare and their status as allies confirmed, he finally brought out the real course.
"And this is…?"
Taking the thick report from Kyōraku's hands, Higashino Shuuichi knew that everything they'd said so far served a double purpose: to clear away any lingering misunderstandings between them, and to confirm that they still stood on the same side.
Now that both those points had been settled, whatever Kyōraku was about to show him had to be his true objective.
As he flipped through the pages, Higashino Shuuichi finally understood why Kyōraku was so certain about that suspicion he'd carried for so long without validation.
Because despite how much material the report seemed to contain on the surface, in essence it was arguing for one single point.
That the Zanpakutō in Sakahone Saizō's hand was connected to the batch of Asauchi Soul Society had lost in the past.
Ordinarily, a Shinigami's Zanpakutō was an extension of their own spirit and power.
Zanpakutō came in all shapes and forms, but one thing about them was universal, and it was this: they were fundamentally different from the Bakkōtō once crafted by the Kasumiooji clan.
A Zanpakutō was, at its core, just a vessel for a Shinigami's power.
Which meant that no matter which Asauchi they had initially received, the Zanpakutō it eventually became could only ever be one, unique to that Shinigami.
That was why Tōsen Kaname, having stolen only his beloved friend Kakyō's Asauchi, had been able to turn that into his Zanpakutō. And why the current 11th Division Captain Zaraki Kenpachi's Asauchi had also come from a dead Shinigami he'd found; in the original future, that very Asauchi would become Zaraki Kenpachi's own Zanpakutō.
So what Kyōraku wanted to confirm was this: whether the Zanpakutō in Sakahone Saizō's hand had been forged from one of the Asauchi lost in that theft.
Because during that Osaka Prefecture incident, Soul Society had tracked down the Shinigami who'd stolen the goods—yet the Asauchi themselves had disappeared forever.
Under normal circumstances, most people would have written Kyōraku's attempt off as pure fantasy.
If even a nobody like Tōsen Kaname had once managed to steal an Asauchi for himself, what were the odds that Sakahone Saizō's Zanpakutō just happened to come from that lost batch?
But perhaps Kyōraku's luck had simply been unusually good.
The traces all pointed to one thing: the original form of Sakahone Saizō's Zanpakutō was one of the Asauchi Soul Society had lost back then.
Higashino Shuuichi could understand Kyōraku's anxiety.
Because right now, everyone in Soul Society—including Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni—generally believed that Sakahone Saizō's boasts about "how many" captains could return from the past were just empty bluster.
A group of captains who had died nearly a thousand years ago—getting even one of them back would already be a miracle. How could there possibly be that many?
But based on this investigation, Kyōraku Shunsui was convinced Sakahone Saizō hadn't been lying. In fact, he suspected even the numbers Sakahone had given were conservative.
Because the number of Asauchi lost back then… was far more than thirteen.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810