The truth was, Soul Society’s intelligence system was—as always—utterly trash.
Or rather, the mont nobles got involved—especially the Five Great Noble Houses—it beca bound hand and foot, neutered beyond all function.
The only thing Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto could tell Higashi Shuuichi was the sanitized version of Sakaizō Gyakkotsu’s history—how he was the original Captain of Squad 13 in its founding era, during the "Era of Great Sinners," and the nature of his Zanpakutō.
A number of the first generation captains had been forcibly subdued by Yamamoto’s overwhelming might but never truly submitted. They beca captains under duress—not allegiance.
Gyakkotsu was one such case.
Another pri example was the original 11th Division Captain—Yachirū Unohana, then known as Yachirū Unohana the Slaughterer.
Even now, she remained outwardly obedient—doing her duties as 4th Division Captain with cold detachnt—but if sothing didn’t interest her, she wouldn’t lift a finger, even if the entire Soul Society was burning.
She did the sa with Shuuichi back then. Sa with the Kōkaku rebellion, with Urahara’s exile, with Baraggan’s invasion... she only showed up when she felt like it.
Unlike Gyakkotsu, who directly challenged Yamamoto’s authority again, Unohana simply avoided engaging. That was her final rcy.
Yamamoto knew this. That’s why he let her keep her position—an anchor to prevent her reverting to the blood-hungry demon she once was.
He thought sacrificing certain unstable captains during the Quincy War with Yhwach had permanently solved the problem.
He didn’t expect them to return this way.
This was beyond even his calculations.
"So," Shuuichi said, seated calmly, "it wasn’t that Yamamoto didn’t know. It’s just that you never told him the whole truth back then, did you?"
Across from him sat Kyoraku Shunsui, current 8th Division Captain, half-sprawled across a floor cushion, looking like he’d just walked in off a sake crawl.
After returning from his fruitless eting with the 1st Division, Shuuichi had unexpectedly received an invitation from Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki clan, to visit the estate.
Shuuichi found that strange. Ever since Kuchiki Ginrei’s death, he had no real contact with the Kuchiki clan—not with Byakuya, and barely with Byakuya’s father, Sōjun.
Their only real eting had been at Byakuya’s wedding to Hisana.
Which ant Byakuya wasn’t the one who really invited him.
Soone else had pulled the strings.
And there were few people in Soul Society who could make Byakuya do that.
Shuuichi had guessed one of them would eventually co find him. It’d been nearly a decade since he returned from the fabricated future, after all.
So he accepted the invitation.
And sure enough, waiting for him in the appointed chamber—already drinking—was Kyoraku Shunsui.
"You sure don’t waste ti, Shunsui," Shuuichi said dryly. "No warm greetings? No nostalgic stories? Just straight to business?"
Shunsui raised an eyebrow. "Oh co now. Aren’t we old friends?"
"Old friends?" Shuuichi stared at him. "You an the man who chased into Hueco Mundo to kill ? Or the one who sent on a suicide mission so dangerous I nearly didn’t make it back? Doesn’t really scream friend, does it?"
Shunsui sipped and smiled. "Fair. From the outside, it does look bad. But with your intellect, Shuuichi... I think you already guessed my real intent back then. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have co here."
Shuuichi narrowed his eyes. "I’m here because Byakuya invited . At least, that’s what I was told. Funny how I found you waiting instead. Must be my bad mory acting up."
Shunsui chuckled but didn’t press. If Shuuichi wanted to play dumb, fine.
He’d crack first.
"Alright," he sighed, dropping the carefree mask. He straightened his posture. His voice lost its lilt.
"No riddles. No lies. Back then, I tested you. I wanted to see where your loyalties lay in that situation. And now, your actions have confird it for ."
"So you really were paving the way for to infiltrate the Kisaragi clan?" Shuuichi’s voice dropped. "You noticed the nobles scheming—but as a division captain, you had no authority to intervene. Yamamoto wouldn’t allow it.
"And I was... convenient. A Hollowfied shinigami who fit every checkbox on the nobles’ selection list. Even my ’taint’ beca a strength—because it forced to rely on them.
"If the Captain-Commander wouldn’t allow soone like to return without noble backing, then I had only one path:
obey the nobles—or be erased.
"So as long as Yamamoto remained in power, betraying the Kisaragi ant suicide. Am I wrong?"
Shunsui didn’t deny it.
And Shuuichi now suspected Ukitake Jūshirō, then Captain of Squad 13, hadn’t approved Shiba Kaien’s mission to the Living World without Shunsui’s influence.
That ti in Hueco Mundo—when Shunsui had "suggested" he find Urahara Kisuke—had likely been prearranged.
Whether or not Urahara involved him in the Osaka incident didn’t matter. Shunsui could always leak to Soul Society that Shuuichi had taken part—and saved Kaien.
All it took was Kaien’s cooperation.
But even Shunsui hadn’t expected Shuuichi to carry the mission alone.
"I knew it," Shunsui laughed. "You figured out my hand long ago." He raised his cup again. "Cheers to that."
He drank, then said, "You know, before the Shitō Uprising, back when we were still investigating the Kōkaku rebellion, I noticed sothing odd: the Kisaragi retainers were making too many trips to the World of the Living.
"And over ti, they started quietly removing copied data from the archives of the 12th Division—classified research.
"But when I tried to push the investigation, the old man stopped . Said we’d just dealt with the Kōkaku scandal—we couldn’t provoke the nobles again, especially not one of the Five Great Houses.
"Ridiculous, right?" Shunsui’s smile cracked, a rare trace of bitterness showing.
Shuuichi wondered: maybe it was that very refusal that made Shunsui decide to act behind Yamamoto’s back.
And his chosen agent... had been Higashi Shuuichi.
"No," Shunsui went on, "I started to suspect: what if the Kōkaku rebellion was actually a test run?
"They realized—if they pushed hard enough, held their ground long enough—the Captain-Commander would compromise.
"And once they learned that, they knew—they could build private armies, violate the system, and still be forgiven.
"Yamamoto opened the gate."
Shuuichi nodded. He and Aizen had reached the sa conclusion long ago.
Yamamoto’s fatal mistake wasn’t inaction—but compromise.
"And so," Shuuichi thought grimly, "Yamamoto is old—not just in body, but in will. He’s the last sky holding up a crumbling world. Soon... he’ll die."
Because for Aizen, for Yhwach, for Shitan, for all future threats—
Yamamoto must die.
Only once that mountain falls can the world be reshaped.
"You sent into their camp," Shuuichi said flatly. "Because at the ti, you couldn’t na nas. Accusing a Great House without proof would’ve made you a pariah. So you tested —but never told why.
"And not until Gyakkotsu Sakaizō reappeared did you finally get the confirmation you needed. Right?"
Shunsui exhaled.
"You’re sharp as ever. Yes. That’s exactly why I’ve co to you now."
Because deep down, Shunsui had never been sure.
He was a natural spy—sensitive, cautious—but not confident enough to stake everything on a hunch.
And besides...
He wasn’t sure if this returned Shuuichi was still his Shuuichi.
Ten years had passed.
Shuuichi had vanished for ten days—but for Shunsui, it had been ten years. Enough ti for any man to change.
But now—seeing him storm into the Gotei, dragging Sakaizō by the collar, demanding truth—he knew:
This was still the sa Higashi Shuuichi.
Stronger than before, yes—but unchanged in essence.
"Here." Shunsui passed him a thick report. "I never submitted this to Yamamoto. Or to Central 46."
Now ca the real reason for the eting.
Everything before had been preamble—clearing old misgivings, confirming loyalties. Now ca the truth.
As Shuuichi opened the report, page by page, he understood imdiately: this entire file existed for one purpose.
To prove Sakaizō’s Zanpakutō was forged from one of the Asauchi stolen during the Osaka incident.
Zanpakutō are personal manifestations of a shinigami’s soul. But they all begin as Asauchi—blank slates forged by the Kōkaku family, distributed by the Gotei.
Every shinigami receives one. But once it evolves into a unique blade, that transformation is irreversible.
Unlike the Bakkōtō created by the Kōkaku rebellion—artificial weapons that could be mass-produced—a Zanpakutō is one of a kind.
That’s why Kana Tōsen, who stole his dead friend’s Asauchi, was still able to forge it into his own blade.
Sa with Kenpachi Zaraki—his sword was taken from a corpse.
So if Sakaizō’s Zanpakutō could be traced to those stolen Asauchi...
That would an—the dead captains were not dead at all.
The Gotei had recovered the culprits who stole the Asauchi in Osaka. But not the blades themselves. They vanished.
Most thought they’d been destroyed or lost.
But Shunsui had traced Sakaizō’s Zanpakutō—and it matched one of those missing blanks.
Shuuichi understood the fear behind that discovery.
Because most of Soul Society—even Yamamoto himself—believed Sakaizō’s words were just bluster. That none of the other "dead captains" still lived.
But Shunsui believed him.
More than that—he feared the number might be even greater.
Because the number of missing Asauchi... was far more than thirteen.
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