Few people knew about the emergency captain's meeting a week ago, and it seemed to have brought about no changes. It wasn't until tonight that people realized the changes had already quietly begun.
"This extermination operation will be carried out in three parts simultaneously. You must first lead a team to arrest Sōya, and then enter Hueco Mundo with Kirio and the others..."
The towering Captain of Squad 11, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, looked at the estate before him, his face filled with melancholy. Those familiar with him would find it hard to connect this expression with his usual easygoing and optimistic demeanor.
*"Of course, if it truly weighs too heavily on your conscience, I can handle a portion of it for you..."* Kyōraku Shunsui's words from three days ago resurfaced in his mind. Kuruyashiki Kenpachi lowered his head and murmured softly, "Don't treat me like some weeping little girl! A man must always pay the price for his actions. If you truly did it, then so must you, Sōya!"
"Captain?"
"Hmm?" Kuruyashiki turned around. Seeing the deeply worried expression on his lieutenant's face, he forced himself to cheer up and said with a smile, "Gosuke, I'm fine! Don't make that face. We still don't know the full truth of the matter!"
The extermination operation was prepared by Yamamoto to completely eradicate the Quincies. The full details of the operation were known only to the captains of the Gotei 13, Central 46, and the Shinigami named Ao.
The operation was divided into three parts. The first part, dubbed "Blinding the Eyes and Pruning the Branches," was a purge within the Seireitei.
A faction within the Seireitei had been secretly colluding with the Quincies—this was the intelligence Ao had brought to the emergency captain's meeting seven days ago. To prevent this group from leaking the operation and causing the Quincies to scatter, "Blinding the Eyes and Pruning the Branches" was set into motion. It was meant to blind the prying eyes while simultaneously pruning the crooked branches growing within the Seireitei.
The purge was personally executed by four captains: Kyōraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jūshirō, Unohana Retsu, and Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. At this moment, the estates of the forty-four lower noble clans and fifteen middle noble clans on the initial list were filled with wailing. They would be temporarily detained and interrogated together only after the extermination operation was entirely concluded.
Naturally, the clan that Kuruyashiki Kenpachi personally led a squad to arrest was no simple target. The two flamboyant characters carved into the nameplate declared the estate's ownership—Azashiro! This was the clan of the false accuser, Azashiro Kōzō, and the only upper noble clan targeted in this operation.
Speaking of the Azashiro clan's history, it was considered quite turbulent even within the long annals of the Seireitei.
As an upper noble clan, the Azashiro family had been incredibly glorious in its early years. Its descendants were particularly skilled in martial arts. Although no one from the family had ever served as a captain, the Azashiro clan held immense influence within the Gotei 13.
Consequently drawing envy, the Azashiro clan was framed by a coalition of numerous nobles over three hundred years ago, leading to the deaths of most of the family's descendants. The surviving three siblings were subjected to the Hollow Confinement Penalty of that era—a punishment where they were forced to continuously battle Hollows until they died in combat.
At the time, the eldest daughter, Azashiro Kenichi, was the only Shinigami among the three to have awakened her Shikai. She desperately protected her two younger brothers. However, facing the endless swarm of lunging Hollows, Azashiro Kenichi couldn't hold out for long and was soon buried beneath the horde.
What could two brats who hadn't even achieved Shikai possibly do? Their deaths were preordained, and the Azashiro clan becoming history was a foregone conclusion! Yet, just as everyone thought this, the awakening of a genius pulled the Azashiro clan back from the edge of the abyss!
Azashiro Sōya, Azashiro Kenichi's younger brother and the eldest son of the Azashiro clan, awakened his Shikai at that very moment, instantly hacking the Hollows that had killed his sister to pieces!
A Zanpakutō with such overwhelming might in just its Shikai was certainly no ordinary blade. A new star was rising!
The Seireitei had always been accommodating toward geniuses. Central 46 immediately halted the Hollow Confinement Penalty and reopened the investigation into the Azashiro clan's case. The truth was eventually brought to light: the Azashiro clan was innocent, and the nobles involved in framing them all met dismal ends. The young Azashiro Sōya became the clan head. Although the family consisted only of him and his younger brother Kōzō, the Azashiro clan had at least been preserved.
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi stepped into the Azashiro estate. Though the courtyard was expansive and the buildings numerous, most of it was pitch black. Standing in the center of the courtyard was a slender, elegantly dressed man, seemingly the only living soul in this massive compound.
The man wore his black hair in a ponytail, with two thin strands hanging down in front of his face. His complexion was pale, entirely devoid of color, giving him a somewhat sickly appearance. His narrow eyes were like a pool of clear water, capable of soothing a restless heart.
"I have been waiting for a long time." The man's voice was very soft, as if a gust of wind could scatter it. He slowly raised his hands out in front of him and continued, "Let us go."
"You... I really don't know whether to praise you for daring to take responsibility for your actions, or curse you for being a fool." Kuruyashiki shook his head with a bitter smile. Since the other party had already confessed, there was nothing left for him to say. For an Azashiro, who had suffered so deeply from being framed, to ultimately walk the path of framing others—it surprised him, but more than that, it disappointed him!
"You've got to be kidding me?! Sōya, you aren't the kind of person who would betray the Seireitei! Right, Sōya?!" Lieutenant Gosuke was highly emotional, shouting out the inner thoughts of the other squad members.
The man before them was the very genius who had saved the Azashiro clan all those years ago, the current head of the Azashiro family—Azashiro Sōya! He was also the 3rd Seat of Squad 11, holding a level of prestige among the squad members second only to Captain Kuruyashiki Kenpachi.
In the eyes of the Squad 11 members, the everyday Azashiro Sōya was a gentle man with no worldly desires, one of the few cultured individuals in Squad 11. Despite being the 3rd Seat, his strength was immense, and many believed he was the most likely successor to the title of Kenpachi.
Even recently, when the Captain of Squad 3 stepped down, Central 46 had actually favored Azashiro Sōya over Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō to take up the mantle. Unfortunately, Azashiro insisted on remaining in Squad 11, and the matter was ultimately dropped.
This same Azashiro Sōya had colluded with the Quincies with the intent to endanger the Seireitei? The majority of the Squad 11 members present refused to believe it, clamoring for him to give an explanation. However, looking at Azashiro Sōya's silent demeanor, he clearly had no intention of explaining anything.
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi raised a hand to quell the unrest among his squad members and beckoned to the accompanying Kidō Corps. Four masked figures in white robes, wielding long metal forked staffs, stepped forward and clamped Kidō restraints onto Azashiro Sōya's neck and wrists to restrict the flow of his spiritual energy.
"Hand over your Zanpakutō as well, 3rd Seat Azashiro!" one of the white-robed figures ordered.
"My Zanpakutō?" Azashiro Sōya smiled for the first time. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he said, "I don't usually carry it with me. I can't quite remember where I left it."
The white-robed figure frowned and barked harshly, "You'd best behave yourself! Azashiro Sōya!"
"The fact that you aren't dead proves that I am behaving." After saying this, Azashiro Sōya began walking forward on his own accord. The surrounding Kidō Corps members froze for a moment before scrambling to follow him. *Just who was arresting whom here?*
Azashiro Sōya's non-resistance, which bordered on turning himself in, was both expected and yet completely unreasonable. As for what the future held for Azashiro Sōya and the others, that would only be revealed after this operation concluded. The night was still very long; Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, who was about to head to Hueco Mundo alongside Hikifune Kirio, Shihōin Dōzō, and Kuchiki Ginrei, understood this well.
And Kōe, who was already far away in the Zaraki District, was even more acutely aware of this. "Blinding the Eyes and Pruning the Branches" was merely the beginning. The true war was only just starting now!
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