"Something as useless as emotions, I never had them to begin with." — Byakuya Kuchiki.
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"I hear what you're saying, but this whole thing doesn't make sense." Isshin said with crossed arms as he and the other Captains stood in front of Yamamoto to listen to Itachi's and Byakuya's retelling of their short time as was protocol.
In Isshin's simple words, it was all smoke and mirrors(in no relation to Itachi) and that whoever this enemy was, they were clearly of the slippery sort and this little jaunt with Itachi was to see how they would react.
It was still troubling that someone, or a group of people out there, was keeping an eye on them and they were not the slightest bit aware.
"I mean, you said it yourself that those Togabito came up with a plan to burst out of Hell, and they would have likely done so later down the line even without our mystery guy giving them a hand. I don't think they thought you would focus more on their influence than the damned souls trying to burst out of Hell. I mean, come on, who would go out of their way to alert their enemy of their presence?"
It was a fair assumption, which in all fairness, was all they were working on. Every word spoken was based on the assumption that they had an inkling of their enemy's thought process, but all they were doing was wrapping themselves in tangled yarn.
This was a state risk, the most blatant one any of them had ever seen. This might actually be the first time that any of them had seen Yamamoto visibly pissed. The fact that the security of the Seireitei was compromised to this degree seemed like just the thing to push the wizened Head Captain to the edge.
Not only was this a disgrace to all of them, this very act had shamed the integrity of the Kidō Corps, the Research Institute and the Onmistukidō. The fact that they discovered this on a fluke made it sting even more.
"I know how bad this looks but we should take a few seconds to actually think this through." Kisuke remarked, easily drawing the attention of everyone in the tent. "I doubt their method of observation is anything standard."
"What do you mean by that?" Byakuya asked.
"A Shinigami's Zanpakutō ability, an Hollow's innate ability, a Bount's Doll, A Fullbringer's technique," he counted down on his fingers as he names them, "— these are all possible avenues which they could have used to spy on us, and that means that only one person, at most two, are capable of observing us. And I doubt it's something they can do constantly. So while it's not quite the impossible feat, there are likely caveats."
"Exactly," Isshin agreed, "and that's why I say they overstepped. The fact remains that their part in it was supposed to remain a secret, which didn't exactly work out, but at least they were smart enough to cover their bases."
"And why are you so sure of that?" Byakuya asked with one of his eyes closed and the other staring at Isshin who simply jabbed a finger at Itachi.
"If they truly knew so much about us then they wouldn't have been so stupid to use illusions on him." Isshin stated dryly, not at all impressed by the covert actions of this new enemy. "Anyone that knows anything about his abilities, even with the barest knowledge, would know that using illusions on him is shooting yourself in the foot."
"Maybe," Itachi started, getting a snort from Isshin, "but even if they were watching me, that doesn't explain why they would ever have a reason to go and recruit someone from Hell. It seems too far a stretch for it to be a simple decision."
"So what are you saying?" Byakuya asked before his opened eye narrowed. "You suspect that the enemy is in the deeper levels of Hell." He stated.
Itachi shrugged. "It's a pregnant suspicion. The fact remains that they specifically needed me in Hell, and Kokutō was simply obsessed with Amaterasu's flames as they seemed to be the only thing that could damage those soul chains. The Kushanāda's hostility is another point of contention. Why did Amaterasu's flames anger them? And she also told me she could feel something familiar coming from the deeper layers of Hell."
His eyes were firmly on Yamamoto as he spoke and the frown the man sported at the end of his sentence caught everyone's attention.
He strongly believed his suspicions of the main perpetrators being from deep within Hell, deeper than Kokutō's at least. There was also the thought that they might have some collaborators from outside of Hell, either from the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo or the World of the Living. All these were surface speculations so until they found concrete clues, speculations was all they could work off from.
He turned towards Byakuya who had been looking at the Head Captain and asked him something he had been silently curious about.
"You said you preferred not to use your Bankai in Hell, is there any particular reason why?"
Byakuya looked at Yamamoto, and seeing as the man was silent, he sighed and shrugged. "It's not a particular worry, at least not for me, but I simply chose to err on the side of caution."
"And why is that?"
"Because the tremendous volume of a Captain's Reiatsu is too volatile to exercise without caution in a realm as ancient as Hell." Yamamoto interjected, cutting the line of questioning from Byakuya and drawing back all attention to himself. "It is not an issue for most Captains, even if they were to resort to their Bankai, as the nature of their Zanpakutō does not threaten the stability of that layer of Hell."
"The nature of their Zanpakutō?" Isshin asked curiously.
Yamamoto nodded, looking straight at Itachi. "The nature of some Zanpakutō and their inherent release can have some adverse effects on the layers of Hell, which in turn will draw the Warden's attention and anger. Captain Kuchiki would have been fine even if he had released his Bankai in Hell due to the subtle and precise nature of his Zanpakutō."
Yamamoto sighed and leaned forward as his hunched posture became more prominent. His body looked like he was in danger of falling over his cane, but his eyes and frown looked rigid enough to fight off an earthquake.
"But those of us with Bankai, or even Shikai, that deeply affect the world around us are outright prohibited from releasing them in Hell so as not to disturb the creatures that slumber in the deeper pits of Hell. Such examples would include myself, Captain Uchiha… and Captain Urahara. Captain Shiba would have been included had his Bankai resembled mine in any way."
"Oh my, please don't look at me like that." Kisuke waved his hand in front of his embarrassed flushed face, earning derisive snorts from Byakuya and Isshin.
"So what? They were trying to push him to use his Bankai to sponsor a Hell-wide prison break? That's… worrying."
Itachi and Byakuya nodded at Isshin's buoy reasoning. "I also reckon that most of the time they watched me was during a battle. Maybe that's what gives them, their probable watcher, the extra camouflage to hide any trace of their presence."
Yamamoto grunted in equal parts annoyance and irritation as he banged his cane of the ground, making the Captains instinctively snap to attention.
"Be that as it may, the security of the Seireitei is woefully lacking. Uchiha, Urahara along with Tessai, it will be your job to rectify this."
"Yes sir."
"Yes sir."
"Dismissed. We'll continue this discussion in my office." They filtered out of the tent at the dismissal and stepped into another tent, one that housed the sleeping Tōshirō.
"Ah, Captain Uchiha, Captain Kuchiki, welcome." Momo scampered to her feet in a hurry at the sight of the four Captains entering the tent.
She straightened and gave a sharp bow at the waist. "Thank you, Captain Uchiha, Captain Kuchiki, for rescuing Tōshirō."
"It's alright, Hinamori." She stood up after another grateful bow and excused herself from the tent.
Itachi looked at Tōshirō, his expression indecipherable, and looked at Isshin and Kisuke with a silent question.
Kisuke chuckled. "He's fine as far as I can tell, Itachi. I don't know what would have happened had he been fully sublimated by Hell, fortunately for him."
"That's one good thing out of all this. I'll be leaving then." Curiosity sated, Itachi turned to leave as his mission was completed.
"Don't want to wait around until he wakes up?" Isshin asked with a wry smile despite already knowing the likely answer.
"He's not a child to be comforted by my presence. And I believe it'll be better for his mental state if I'm not here when he wakes up." Itachi said as he flipped the flap over and stepped out, Byakuya following close behind.
"He hates you." Byakuya stated.
"And?" Itachi asked.
Byakuya shook his head. "You're kinder than most. Whether that is a blessing or not remains to be seen."
Itachi looked at him as they walked. "To them or to me?"
"It remains to be seen."
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