"Revenge?" Kyōraku asked. "You attacked me because you wanted the entire Gotei 13 to accompany you on a campaign against Hueco Mundo?"
"You're overthinking it. I attacked you simply because Shishihara Mizuho was getting on my nerves."
Sōya Azashiro answered without expression.
At that moment, an invisible girl was still pestering him from beside him. Neither Kyōraku nor the others could see her.
She was his Zanpakutō, Shishihara Mizuho.
"As for launching an expedition against Hueco Mundo, it's not that I don't want to. His Majesty the Soul King simply doesn't permit it..."
Azashiro casually explained the reason he had originally turned himself in.
To maintain the balance of the Three Realms, the Soul King had refused to allow Azashiro to exterminate the Hollows.
With his hopes completely shattered, Azashiro had decided to surrender himself to the Central 46.
As for the few nobles whose actions had led to his sister being attacked by Hollows—back then, the Central 46 still held absolute authority. There was no way he could simply attack the nobles.
"Then your real purpose is..."
"The Gotei 13 is about to move against those nobles, isn't it?"
Azashiro finally revealed his true objective.
After dealing with the Tsunayashiro Clan, the Seireitei had gradually begun purging the smaller and mid-sized noble families that refused to cooperate.
Even while confined in Muken, Azashiro could sense everything happening throughout the Seireitei.
Now that an opportunity for revenge had appeared, he had taken advantage of Aizen's arrival and the resulting loosening of the prison's seal to leave the Underground Prison of the Shin'ō Academy.
Revenge was Azashiro's creed.
After his Zanpakutō, Shishihara Mizuho, released its Bankai, its manifested form became identical to that of his deceased sister.
Avenging his sister was the obsession that had consumed him for his entire life.
Since the Soul King would not allow him to exterminate all the Hollows, surely killing a few minor noble families wouldn't be enough to draw His Majesty's ire.
"You're asking me for help, yet you attacked me first. Your brain..."
Kyōraku was at a loss for words.
"I am indeed not normal. I've also caused the deaths of many people."
Azashiro admitted it without hesitation.
If he had possessed even a little common sense back then, he wouldn't have resorted to such extreme measures, using his authority as captain of Squad 11 to force the Seireitei into making a choice.
"Forget it. We'll consider your attack on me settled. You can participate in the operation, but you must obey Ukitake's orders from beginning to end."
Kyōraku was surprisingly magnanimous.
In truth, he simply didn't want to keep arguing with Azashiro about the attack—or about his own habit of slacking off.
Besides, Azashiro had willingly accepted his imprisonment in Muken and hadn't committed many other offenses.
Kyōraku therefore decided to turn a blind eye.
"There's one more matter."
Azashiro's eyes turned toward Tsunayoshi.
"His Majesty the Soul King ordered me to come out and assist you. I need an identity."
That was the true reason Azashiro had left Muken.
The Soul King had stopped him from launching his original campaign. This time, the Soul King himself had summoned him.
After his sister's death, the Soul King had become Azashiro's final object of faith.
Azashiro's Reiatsu swept across every street and corner of the Seireitei.
He likewise did not want the place his sister had loved to be destroyed so easily.
While in Muken, Azashiro had been able to perceive everything happening within the Seireitei through his abilities.
Given Kyōraku and the others' actions, those minor noble families that had once persecuted the Azashiro Clan were certain to be swept into the dustbin of history.
He could have remained uninvolved.
There would have been no problem with that.
Until he heard the Soul King's call.
Protecting the Seireitei and Soul Society—the places his sister had loved—was the only obsession Azashiro had left besides his faith.
"Fine. You can choose any seated officer position in the Gotei 13."
Kyōraku immediately agreed.
In truth, he felt that Azashiro's abilities were extraordinarily well suited to the position of Squad 8 captain.
As long as Azashiro remained within the Seireitei, Kyōraku and the others wouldn't even need to use Bakudō or Hell Butterflies to transmit information.
They could simply speak aloud, and Azashiro would hear it and get to work.
In other words, a Squad 8 led by Azashiro could devote itself entirely to intelligence concerning the Human World and Hueco Mundo.
Within the Seireitei, there would be no information capable of escaping Azashiro's ears.
Judging from the way Azashiro looked at Tsunayoshi, Kyōraku could tell that his claim that the Soul King had summoned him was not a lie.
Kyōraku completely trusted the Soul King's judgment.
However, Azashiro had only just been released from being a high-level prisoner. Handing him an important position immediately would not be appropriate.
Kyōraku's plan was to let Azashiro spend some time as a seated officer.
When the timing was right, he could take over as captain of Squad 8.
Azashiro himself didn't care much about which position he received.
He hadn't spent very long serving in the Gotei 13. Most of his life had been devoted to pursuing his goal of exterminating Hollows.
Now that he was suddenly being asked to join a division, he simply didn't have a preference.
"How about Squad 11? I'm fairly familiar with the position of Kenpachi..."
Kyōraku froze.
He hadn't expected Azashiro to make such a choice.
Not a seated officer.
The Kenpachi.
"Well... Squad 11 already has a Kenpachi."
"I know. That battle-crazed lunatic. As a Kenpachi, he's far inferior to Kuruyashiki."
Azashiro had always looked down on the Kenpachis who came after him.
A group of Shinigami who took brute force as a source of pride despite lacking true strength.
He couldn't understand where their arrogance came from.
"Azashiro, you've been a Kenpachi before. You should know that there can only be one Kenpachi in an era, right?"
Unohana narrowed her eyes, a terrifying expression appearing on her face.
"I'll defeat him. Challenging the current Kenpachi and becoming captain of Squad 11—I have experience with this."
With that, Azashiro disappeared from the spot.
"That guy... Don't tell me he went straight to challenge Kenpachi Zaraki?"
Tsunayoshi stared at the place where Azashiro had vanished.
"He's really that straightforward? What exactly did His Majesty the Soul King release him for?"
Kyōraku held his forehead, utterly exasperated.
"Actually, it makes sense."
Tsunayoshi patted Kyōraku sympathetically on the shoulder.
"His entire life has been completely straightforward. He witnessed the death of a family member and awakened his Zanpakutō."
"If he wanted to exterminate Hollows, he needed authority above the rank of captain, so he went and defeated Kenpachi Kuruyashiki."
"When the Soul King rejected his objective, he chose to seal himself away, surrendered to the Central 46, and cast himself into Muken."
"He's basically incapable of taking a roundabout approach."
"You'll have to put up with him."
"What do you think about throwing him at Shinji Hirako?" Kyōraku suddenly had an idea.
"That old fox Hirako? He'd actually be a pretty good fit. The problem is whether Hirako will be willing to accept him."
Tsunayoshi agreed.
"Don't worry. Hirako will complain verbally, then quietly take care of everything anyway. I still want Azashiro to eventually take over Squad 8."
Kyōraku understood his colleagues quite well.
"Yeah. A mature Azashiro would qualify as a guardian of the Seireitei on the strength of his ability to merge with the entire Seireitei alone."
Tsunayoshi thought about it.
"Anyone who wants to attack the Seireitei in the future will have to get past Azashiro first."
"That's exactly what I was thinking. His Majesty the Soul King really does understand me. He knew what I was struggling with and sent someone like this straight to me."
The position of Squad 8 captain had remained vacant.
With Azashiro's strength and abilities, he had more than enough qualifications to keep the officers beneath him in line.
"Is now really the time to discuss that? Things are about to begin over at Squad 11."
Unohana's gaze shifted toward the location of Squad 11.
"Want to go watch the show?"
Tsunayoshi suggested.
"You two go. Tsunayoshi, keep an eye on things for me. Just make sure nobody gets killed."
Kyōraku stretched lazily.
His break was over, so he needed to return to the First Division.
"I'm returning to the academy."
Yamamoto also had no intention of getting involved.
If he'd known Kyōraku wasn't seriously injured, he wouldn't even have left the academy.
Unohana was naturally going.
This was a battle involving the title of Kenpachi.
She wouldn't miss it.
Squad 11 Barracks
Kenpachi Zaraki was bored out of his mind as he watched the members of Squad 11 train.
Every now and then, he could actually be relied upon to behave like a proper captain and supervise his subordinates' training.
In reality, however, most of the work was being handled by Yumichika Ayasegawa and Ikkaku Madarame.
Today, they had invited Ashido Kanō back to the Seireitei to teach the officers about his experience dealing with Hollows.
Kenpachi's head was spinning from listening to it.
As far as he was concerned, Hollows were simple.
Just cut them down with one swing.
Why make everything so complicated?
Just as Kenpachi was preparing to leave with Yachiru to find some entertainment, the entertainment came looking for him.
A figure slowly materialized in front of Kenpachi Zaraki.
It was Sōya Azashiro, who had just left Squad 4.
"Who are you?"
Kenpachi stood up.
Azashiro had bypassed his senses and appeared directly in front of him, which finally piqued his interest.
"Sōya Azashiro. The former Eighth Kenpachi."
"Kenpachi Zaraki, I am invoking the Kenpachi Challenge. I will take back the title of Kenpachi."
Azashiro's tone was flat, as though he were announcing something utterly insignificant.
"The Eighth?"
Kenpachi counted on his fingers.
He was the Eleventh Kenpachi.
The Eighth sounded rather weak.
"You couldn't beat that... that... What was his name again?"
Kenpachi Kuronashi had been the Tenth Kenpachi of Squad 11. Under the conventional succession of the Kenpachi title, each generation of Kenpachi should have been stronger than the one before it.
Kenpachi himself had defeated Kuronashi to become the captain of Squad 11.
Unfortunately, that guy had been far too weak.
Kenpachi had killed him with a single slash.
If Azashiro couldn't even defeat an opponent like that, Kenpachi immediately lost interest in him.
"If you've got nothing to do, go find someone else. You're in my way."
Because Azashiro had merged himself with the Seireitei, Kenpachi couldn't sense his Reiatsu merely by looking at him.
He assumed that Azashiro was just another small fry.
Azashiro understood exactly why Kenpachi treated him that way.
In a sense, he was responsible for it.
By surrendering himself to the Central 46, he had caused the succession of the Kenpachi title to be interrupted.
The Ninth Kenpachi had later been nothing more than Azashiro's subordinate.
He had been so weak that few people could even remember his name.
He was eventually killed by the Rukongai-born Kuronashi because he lacked the strength to defend himself, causing the Kenpachi title to change hands once again.
Regardless of whether Kenpachi looked down on Azashiro, everything that had happened was ultimately Azashiro's own doing.
Azashiro was just about to force Kenpachi into accepting the challenge when an angry voice from behind caught his attention.
"You're Sōya Azashiro? The Azashiro who killed Kenpachi Kuruyashiki!"
More than two hundred years had passed.
At this point, there was only one person who would still stand up for Kenpachi Kuruyashiki.
It was Ashido Kanō, who had returned from his expedition to Hueco Mundo.
"Captain Zaraki, if you don't mind, could you leave him to me?"
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