Chapter 232: The Tallest Mountain and the Longest River in Soul Society
Tosen stepped forward and ran a quick check on Matsushita Yusuke, who was still sitting on the ground. The verdict: nothing critically wrong, in the most literal sense of the words.
The exchange had looked violent. In terms of actual physical damage, it had been less severe than it appeared.
The injuries Matsushita Yusuke was carrying right now weren't the kind that showed plainly on the surface.
He would need to go back and rest quietly for a while.
"Are we at a safe distance?"
Faced with the question, Aizen Sosuke thought for a moment, then answered.
"Not quite safe yet, strictly speaking, but we are largely past the dangerous range. I have adjusted Kyoka Suigetsu's recognition threshold... at this distance, even Captain-Commander Yamamoto would not be able to locate us."
As a logistics and support measure, Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu was genuinely the most capable Zanpakuto available.
With that information confirmed, Matsushita Yusuke stopped maintaining any particular composure, let out a long breath, and dropped flat on his back with a sound of pure exhaustion.
He lay there breathing hard, expression cycling through things that were difficult to put precise words to.
"That old man..."
Tosen stood beside him and opened his mouth.
"The Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. What did he feel like to you?"
"Incredibly strong. And I got the sense he still wasn't giving everything."
The tallest mountain and the longest river in Soul Society. The old man was every bit worthy of the Captain-Commander title. Genuinely, unreasonably strong.
Thinking about how he had almost not made it out, the smile that crossed Matsushita Yusuke's face turned somewhere between rueful and wistful.
"Is it really that exaggerated?"
"Well, if I don't build the old man up a bit, it makes my loss look pretty terrible, doesn't it?"
"...I suppose that's true."
Both of them couldn't help laughing.
"Matsushita-kun."
Aizen called his name. Yusuke adjusted his expression briefly, replied, and looked up.
"Right here, Aizen-sensei."
The jokes were just a way of adjusting to the situation: keeping things from going rigid.
"Today's battle. Did you manage to collect any useful data?"
"Definitely."
The first time had been bad enough that he had been carried away in a state where he could barely piece together a rough estimate of what the Bankai output looked like.
This time was different.
"I came close to destroying Zanka no Tachi. I didn't get direct energy data on the exact destruction threshold, but I can build a reasonably close estimate from what I experienced. On top of that, I now have approximate directional parameters covering Zanjutsu, Hakuda, shunpo, and reiatsu levels."
He was laying it out as he spoke, organizing it in his head simultaneously and forming actual working judgments.
"I'll write this up properly and get the document over to you, Aizen-sensei."
Pure guesswork by itself was worthless. Putting it on paper, recording it with precision, and having it as something to reference: that was the right approach.
Hearing that, Aizen Sosuke let a deeply satisfied expression settle across his face.
"A tremendous help, Matsushita-kun. I've also backed up some materials on my end. Once we have both versions, we can compare them, make corrections, and arrive at something considerably closer to the real numbers."
Two independent sources calculating against each other would absolutely be more accurate than either alone.
What was the data for?
Obviously to lay the groundwork for whatever came next.
With Yamamoto's specific parameters now in hand, Aizen could begin designing targeted countermeasures with actual foundations to build on.
In the original story, the Extinguishing Prince had been built entirely from Aizen's estimates of what Yamamoto's flames looked like. Working from inference alone, he had still managed something with remarkable imagination. But now, with two direct combat records from Matsushita Yusuke, Aizen had access to far more precise source material.
The Pro Max Extinguishing Prince, as a result, would probably have quite a few more surprises in store for Yamamoto.
As for Matsushita Yusuke's own side of the ledger.
He had his own considerably clearer gains.
Just as discussed before: fighting Yamamoto was running a raid dungeon. The final boss of the current game version.
Want to level up? Go hit the old man.
Quest rewards aside, fighting at this level also generated experience and technique that never appeared on any stat panel.
The most obvious example from today: the [Dual-Blade Style] technique, newly acquired.
Running two Zanpakuto together wasn't simply one plus one equaling two. Today had demonstrated it clearly: the combination could control the enemy's movement, divide the battlefield, and catch the opponent completely off guard at the right moment.
Five types of Zanpakuto total. Two-by-two pairing combinations produced a remarkable number of possibilities.
Today was just the opening experiment. It had also opened an entirely new angle of thinking.
"Feels almost like a roguelike..."
That thought settled with a quiet nod and a slow exhale. Matsushita Yusuke gathered himself and stood.
"Have you recovered?"
"Not yet... but I have enough to walk."
He shook out his hands, worked his body loose, straightened his clothes, and headed back toward the Seireitei alongside Aizen and the others.
"Today's business is wrapped up for now. If anything unexpected surfaces, make contact immediately. Be careful."
Aizen finished his debrief, and Tosen gave a nod before turning and leaving. Once only the two of them remained, Aizen's expression shifted into something more subtle. He asked quietly.
"Are you really alright?"
The fact that even Aizen had let something like that slip through said something about how serious things had looked.
Matsushita Yusuke's expression stayed easy. He smiled.
"I'm fine. And actually, we're going to need some way to dispel Yamamoto's suspicions. That's something to start thinking about."
"...Understood. Then I'll leave that to your judgment."
Aizen deferring to his judgment was, in its own way, another form of recognition. Matsushita Yusuke thanked his superior for the vote of confidence, and they went their separate ways.
Drawing on prior experience, Matsushita Yusuke was considerably more careful on the way back to the barracks this time.
He slipped quietly back to his room and immediately got to work: a proper cleanup, a shower, combing his hair back into order, and a brief application of cologne.
Doing this in the middle of the night was admittedly a strange sequence. Nobody preparing to sleep put this much effort into their appearance.
But soon enough, the arrival of some unexpected visitors made the whole sequence considerably less puzzling.
Light, rapid footsteps in the corridor. Then his door shook.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Captain, Captain, are you asleep?! I can't sleep! This is bad! Vice-Captain Sasakibe just showed up at the front gate and says he needs to see you!"
Here it comes.