"How could this happen...?"
After a prolonged silence, Komamura Sajin could not help but feel another wave of sorrow wash over him.
He had never forgotten how Yamamoto Genryusai had treated him in the past. When Komamura had wandered through the world, ashamed of his wolf-like appearance and accustomed to being rejected by others, Yamamoto had not looked down upon him. Instead, the old man had taken the initiative to accept him, giving him a place in Soul Society and helping him become a shinigami.
That kindness had changed Komamura's life.
After becoming a shinigami, he had sworn to devote himself to serving Yamamoto. When Soul Society suffered the loss of numerous captains following Aizen Sosuke's betrayal, Komamura had trained even harder, determined to shoulder greater responsibilities and eventually become worthy of leading the Seventh Division.
He had always believed that as long as he continued to grow stronger, he would be able to repay the Captain-Commander for the kindness he had received.
Yet now, after learning that Yamamoto might never awaken again, Komamura felt as though something inside him had broken.
His heart was filled with both sorrow and anger.
His sorrow was for the old man who had guided him, accepted him, and given him a place in Soul Society. His anger, meanwhile, was directed at Yhwach and the quincies who had invaded their home, leaving devastation and death in their wake.
"Old man Yama..."
"Genryusai-sensei..."
Shunsui and Jushiro were equally distressed by the news.
A thousand years ago, when the quincy army had launched its invasion of Soul Society, it was Yamamoto who had turned the tide of the war and defeated Yhwach. His overwhelming strength had brought the conflict to an end, allowing Soul Society to survive a crisis that could otherwise have destroyed it.
A thousand years later, Yhwach had returned with his army, and Yamamoto had once again stood at the forefront of the battle.
Unfortunately, history had not repeated itself in the way they had hoped.
The Captain-Commander had fought with everything he possessed, yet this time, he had failed to turn the tide. Yhwach had not only defeated him but had also stolen his Bankai and left him on the verge of death.
Even now, after everything they had endured, Yamamoto remained unconscious.
After a long silence, Shunsui finally released a weary sigh.
"Still, the fact that he's alive is already the best news we could have hoped for."
Jushiro nodded slowly.
He understood those words better than most.
Having suffered from a severe illness throughout his life, he had spent countless years struggling against a body that constantly threatened to betray him. He knew better than anyone how difficult it could be simply to remain alive, let alone continue living in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Life itself was precious.
It was because people remained alive that they could experience the beauty of the world, meet the people who mattered to them, and create memories that would remain with them long after the moment had passed.
As long as a person was alive, there was still a possibility of seeing tomorrow.
Even so, the other captains could not easily set aside their complicated feelings.
They had followed Yamamoto for generations. Some had served under him for centuries, while others had spent their entire lives looking up to him as the strongest shinigami in Soul Society.
He could certainly be stubborn, inflexible, and excessively attached to tradition. There had been countless occasions when his decisions had appeared old-fashioned, and his uncompromising attitude had caused frustration among those who worked under him.
But when a true crisis arrived, Yamamoto had always been the one to be relied upon.
His presence alone had provided the Gotei 13 with a sense of security that few others could offer. No matter how formidable the enemy appeared, as long as the Captain-Commander remained standing, the other shinigami could believe that there was still hope.
Yamamoto had been like an enormous wall, standing between the Gotei 13 and the countless dangers threatening Soul Society.
Now, that wall had collapsed.
And the people who had relied upon it for so long were being forced to confront the frightening reality of a future without its protection.
"..."
Inoue Orihime looked at the captains surrounding Yamamoto and lowered her head, feeling a pang of guilt.
She had tried her absolute best to restore the Captain-Commander's destroyed body. Her ability had succeeded in bringing back what Yhwach had taken from him, yet she had still been unable to bring him back to consciousness.
Even after everything she had accomplished, she could not help feeling that she had failed.
"You don't need to blame yourself, Orihime."
Unohana Retsu noticed the young woman's troubled expression and spoke gently to her.
"You did everything you could. Without your ability, the Captain-Commander might not have survived at all."
Orihime raised her head slightly, but the guilt in her eyes did not disappear.
Unohana glanced at Yamamoto's motionless figure before continuing.
"For us shinigami, fighting and dying in the line of duty is part of our fate. The Captain-Commander has spent his entire life protecting Soul Society. In the end, he was simply doing what he had always done."
Her voice remained calm, but there was an unmistakable trace of solemnity in her words.
"He was fulfilling his duty, just as countless other shinigami have done before him."
Unohana had witnessed more battles and deaths than most people could imagine. She understood the sorrow that accompanied the loss of comrades, but she also knew that allowing grief to consume them would not change what had happened.
The dead could not be brought back merely because the living wished it were otherwise.
And those who had survived still had responsibilities to fulfill.
At that moment, Hirako Shinji turned his attention toward Urahara Kisuke.
"All right, Urahara. Why don't you tell us what you're planning?"
Unlike some of the other captains, Shinji did not bother with formalities when speaking to his old acquaintance.
He knew Kisuke too well to believe that the man had gathered them here merely to let them examine Yamamoto's condition. Kisuke was the sort of person who rarely acted without considering several possible outcomes in advance. If one plan failed, he would simply move on to another.
That was precisely why Shinji had no intention of giving in to despair just yet.
Yamamoto might have fallen, but the Gotei 13 had not been completely destroyed.
As long as they still had capable fighters, there was room to turn the situation around.
More importantly, Shinji suspected that Kisuke had brought them here because he wanted to discuss something significant, perhaps even a plan that could change the course of the war.
The other captains seemed to reach the same conclusion and turned their attention toward the former captain of the Twelfth Division.
Although Kisuke had long since left Soul Society, the Aizen incident had demonstrated just how formidable his intellect and abilities were. Whatever their personal opinions of him might have been, the Gotei 13 could no longer afford to underestimate his contributions.
The medicine that had allowed the shinigami to reclaim their stolen Bankai had been developed by Kisuke. Without it, the quincies would have deprived several captains of their greatest weapons during the invasion, making an already disastrous battle even worse.
Furthermore, when Yamamoto had been on the verge of being killed by Yhwach, Kisuke had intervened alongside Ichigo and helped rescue the Captain-Commander.
Even though Yamamoto had now been reduced to an unconscious state, his survival was still far better than losing him entirely.
The same principle applied to the current situation.
During the battle against Aizen, Kisuke had played a crucial role in bringing down an enemy whose schemes had threatened the entire Soul Society. Now, it had become clear that he had known about the existence of the Wandenreich well before the invasion began.
If anyone among them had prepared a contingency plan for the war that had just begun, Kisuke was one of the most likely candidates.
"I do have a few ideas," Kisuke admitted, his expression unusually serious. "However, I'm not certain everyone here will agree with my proposal."
He paused, allowing his words to settle before continuing.
"By now, all of you should have a clear understanding of the quincy army's strength, especially those who call themselves the Sternritter. Each of them possesses a Schrift, a unique ability that grants them extraordinary power. Many of them are already comparable to our captains, and some are even stronger than the average captain."
The room fell silent as the captains recalled their battles.
Kuchiki Byakuya and Hitsugaya Toshiro, in particular, understood his words all too well.
They had fought together against one of the Sternritter, with Sui-Feng joining the battle along the way. Despite their combined efforts, both Byakuya and Toshiro had sustained severe injuries, while Abarai Renji had nearly lost his life.
Their opponents had possessed abilities that were difficult to anticipate and even more difficult to counter. Raw combat experience and the strength of a Bankai were not always enough to guarantee victory against such enemies.
The quincy had not merely returned after a thousand years of preparation.
They had returned with an army of monsters.
Kisuke continued, his tone growing heavier.
"If we hadn't prepared the medicine in advance and found a way to prevent the quincies from permanently depriving us of our Bankai, the situation would have been far worse. Even with that preparation, the number of shinigami killed during this half-day battle has already exceeded the casualties Soul Society has suffered over the past hundred years."
The captains exchanged grim looks.
Over the last century, Soul Society had certainly experienced its share of turmoil. The disappearance of Aizen and the upheaval surrounding his betrayal had been followed by a period of instability, during which Hueco Mundo had launched a series of increasingly aggressive attacks against Soul Society. During those conflicts, even a captain of the Gotei 13 had fallen in battle.
Yet the casualties from those events paled in comparison to the destruction they had just witnessed.
The invasion of the Wandenreich had inflicted losses on a scale that few of them had ever imagined possible.
And all of it had happened in barely half a day.
Every captain present understood the gravity of that fact. They had seen the bodies, heard the reports from the surviving divisions, and witnessed the destruction throughout Seireitei with their own eyes. There was no need for Kisuke to exaggerate the situation.
After a brief silence, Byakuya spoke.
"Urahara Kisuke, what exactly are you trying to tell us?"
His gaze remained fixed on Kisuke, his expression serious and composed despite his injuries.
"I'm simply stating a fact," Kisuke replied. "If we want to overcome this crisis, relying solely on the strength of Soul Society may not be enough."
"What do you mean by that?" Shinji asked.
He had already begun to suspect where Kisuke was heading with this discussion, but he wanted to hear the answer directly.
Kisuke did not keep them waiting.
"We need to seek powerful allies from outside Soul Society and overcome this crisis together."
"Outside reinforcements?"
The captains exchanged glances.
Kurotsuchi Mayuri, who had been listening with an increasingly unpleasant expression, let out a disdainful snort.
"Are you referring to the Royal Guards?"
He had never been particularly fond of Kisuke. Their history, combined with their competing reputations as exceptional researchers, had given Mayuri more than enough reasons to regard the former captain with hostility.
The development of the Bankai-reclaiming medicine had only made matters worse.
That Kisuke had managed to create such a drug before the invasion had even begun was an especially irritating fact for Mayuri to accept. In his opinion, Kisuke's achievement was hardly proof of superiority. The man had simply possessed advance knowledge of the quincy and their methods.
Had Mayuri received the same information beforehand, he was convinced that he could have developed an equally effective solution.
Nevertheless, the mention of outside reinforcements had immediately brought one organization to everyone's mind.
Zero Division.
The name seemed to carry a weight of its own.
As the captains considered the possibility, their expressions changed. The Royal Guards existed to protect the Soul King and the Royal Palace, and its members possessed strength that surpassed even the Gotei 13. If there was ever a moment when their intervention seemed necessary, surely it was now.
With the Captain-Commander incapacitated and the Gotei 13 suffering enormous casualties, the situation could hardly be more dire.
If Zero Division were to intervene, perhaps Soul Society could survive the coming battles.
However, Kisuke shook his head.
"No. Zero Division isn't the support I'm talking about."
The captains looked at him in surprise.
"I know what you're all thinking," Kisuke continued. "Given the situation, it seems only natural that Zero Division should intervene. With their strength, they might be able to help us overcome this crisis."
He paused, his expression turning grave.
"But we cannot simply assume that they will come to our aid, nor can we afford to base our entire strategy on that expectation."
"Why not?" one of the captains asked.
"Because Yhwach has been planning this invasion for a thousand years."
Kisuke's words caused the atmosphere to grow heavier once more.
"Do you really believe someone who has spent a millennium preparing for this moment would have overlooked the existence of Zero Division? If he has finally launched his attack on Soul Society, then we must assume that he has already considered the Royal Guard's potential response."
Kisuke folded his arms, his eyes sweeping across the assembled captains.
"We don't know exactly what Yhwach has planned for them, but that uncertainty is precisely the problem. We cannot stake our survival on the assumption that Zero Division will arrive and solve everything for us."
He was not claiming that the Royal Guard would necessarily refuse to help them. Nor was he suggesting that their intervention would be meaningless.
Rather, his point was that they could not afford to entrust their fate entirely to an unknown variable.
If Yhwach had anticipated Zero Division's involvement, then their appearance might not be enough to end the war. And if something went wrong at the Royal Palace, the consequences could extend far beyond Seireitei.
They needed allies whose involvement Yhwach might not have fully anticipated.
"Therefore," Kisuke concluded, "the reinforcements we seek should come from an unexpected direction. We need a force capable of upsetting Yhwach's calculations rather than simply playing into them."
He let the silence linger for a moment.
Then he finally revealed the answer.
"The allies I'm talking about is..."
Urahara Kisuke raised his eyes and looked directly at the captains.
"Hueco Mundo."
*****
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✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
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