Seeing the man before him, Sakanoue Yuu was startled.
Messy blue hair, strange white paint smeared across his face, and slightly sunken eye sockets—he looked downright ghostly.
Though it didn't quite match his memory, he was certain this guy was Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Since Kisuke Urahara hadn't yet made a name for himself, Satoru had assumed Mayuri wouldn't have appeared yet either.
To his surprise, the man was already a Shinigami.
Noticing Satoru's dazed expression, Mayuri frowned.
"Damn it… What are those rebel idiots thinking, sending two fools like you?"
"No way. I can't work with idiots—it'll get me killed!"
With that, he moved to slam the door shut.
But just as he was about to, Satoru's hand—somehow already there—grabbed his wrist.
Under Mayuri's stunned gaze, Satoru lowered his voice and said.
"Don't be so hasty. We might not look like much, but our skills are solid."
"As long as the job gets done, what does it matter if we're fools?"
Mayuri frowned as he looked at Satoru's grip on his wrist.
Though he was a researcher, his combat abilities weren't lacking.
As someone with seated officer-level strength, he hadn't even seen Satoru's hand move.
If this guy had gone for a lethal strike instead of just grabbing his wrist, he'd probably be severely injured by now…
After a few seconds of thought, he glanced at Satoru.
"Tch. A bit slow in the head, but your skills aren't bad."
"Fine, follow me… And remember—stay close, and don't touch anything without my orders!"
With that, he shook off Satoru's grip, turned, and strode briskly into the depths of the 12th Division.
Satoru exchanged a glance with Yoruichi, and the two slipped inside, quietly closing the door behind them before following.
Yoruichi leaned in and whispered, "Satoru, what's his deal? From the sound of it, he was waiting here for the rebels?"
Satoru nodded. "Judging by his words, he must've struck some kind of deal with them to cooperate on something."
He couldn't help but grin. "Who knows? Maybe his goal's the same as ours?"
Yoruichi's eyes widened at that.
If Satoru's guess was right, this situation just got a lot more serious!
Under Mayuri's lead, the three easily avoided all patrolling Shinigami and arrived before a building.
Looking at it, Satoru and Yoruichi exchanged glances, both torn between laughter and exasperation.
Mayuri had brought them to their original destination—
The 12th Division archives!
Originally, according to Yoruichi's plan, once they infiltrated the 12th Division, they'd have to improvise and stealthily make their way to the archives.
But thanks to Mayuri's unexpected involvement, they'd skipped the hardest part and arrived right at their goal.
If the situation weren't so precarious, requiring constant vigilance, Yoruichi might've popped open champagne early.
Mayuri stopped before the archive doors.
After examining the door lock, he turned to Satoru and Yoruichi:
"Captain Hikifune isn't with the squad, but before she left, she set up a spiritual pressure lock."
"To unlock this, you need at least vice-captain-level spiritual pressure, plus a special unlocking technique."
"I can handle the unlocking part, but I don't have that level of spiritual pressure. You two should be able to manage, right?"
A hint of suspicion flickered in Mayuri Kurotsuchi's eyes.
Both Satoru and Yoruichi were dressed in black stealth gear, their faces hidden.
But judging by their builds, they seemed quite young.
Even a genius like him had only reached the level of a low-ranking officer.
How could these two, who looked even younger than him, possibly possess such high spiritual pressure?
Had he brought the wrong people? Were these two really sent by the rebels?
Yoruichi instinctively glanced at Satoru.
She knew how to unlock this door as well.
Before coming, she had explained the lock's mechanism to him.
At the time, Satoru had assured her that he'd handle the spiritual pressure requirement.
Yoruichi had heard that Satoru had once released vice-captain-level spiritual pressure at the academy, but "vice-captain-level" was a rather broad classification.
If Kirio Hikifune had set the lock's requirement too high, things could get awkward.
Under their gazes, Satoru lifted his chin slightly.
"Hmph, pretty boy, don't underestimate me."
"Vice-captain-level? I've killed three Shinigami of that rank!"
Mayuri's pupils shrank at his words.
Killed three vice-captain-level Shinigami?
Even for rebels, that was downright brutal.
Yoruichi couldn't help but smirk.
Before Captain-Commander Yamamoto first met Satoru, he had specifically sent the Stealth Force to investigate him.
This guy had probably never even killed a chicken, let alone people.
But he sure knew how to bluff convincingly.
While Mayuri was still stunned, Satoru walked up to the lock and grasped the handle.
Hum!
The moment his hand touched it, the faint glow of spiritual pressure flickering on the lock instantly dimmed and vanished!
Yoruichi's eyes widened.
Judging by the lock's reaction, Satoru's spiritual pressure far exceeded the requirement.
The lock didn't even resist—it was completely overwhelmed by his spiritual pressure!
She instinctively looked at Satoru's face.
His expression was hidden behind the mask, but his eyes betrayed a relaxed, effortless demeanor.
Yoruichi clicked her tongue.
Is this guy a monster?
No wonder the Captain-Commander couldn't resist taking him as a student. How old was he again?
At this rate, in a few hundred years, wouldn't he become the strongest Shinigami after Yamamoto himself?
Mayuri blinked, looking equally shocked.
But he quickly snapped out of it and hurried to unlock the door.
To him, Satoru's strength didn't matter much.
In the face of science, individual power was like a wave against the ocean—utterly insignificant.
Stepping into the archives, Mayuri couldn't help but smile at the neatly sealed scroll compartments lining the walls.
"Perfect, everything's still here."
"Good thing we came in time… If we'd waited until after Captain Enkō's promotion, all of this would probably be gone."
Satoru glanced at Yoruichi.
Her eyes swept the room before settling on a scroll compartment over four meters above the ground.
She gave Satoru a look—
That one!
Satoru gave an almost imperceptible nod.
He tugged his mask higher, covering his face more securely.
Then, he addressed Kisuke Urahara:
"Where's the thing we came for?"
Hearing this, Urahara waved his hand impatiently. "What's the rush? The soul fabrication technology is Captain Hikifune's greatest research achievement. Did you really think it'd be so easy to find?"
"Wait here and don't let anyone in. I'll start searching now—give me ten minutes!"
The moment these words were spoken, Satoru and Yoruichi instinctively exchanged glances.
Both saw shock reflected in the other's eyes.
The rebels' target… was actually the soul fabrication technology?
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