When Natsuro returned to Urahara's shop, he found that Kisuke and the others were gone.
"Where are they?" Natsuro asked Jinta Hanakari.
"After you left, the shopkeeper and the others went out too. Didn't they go to find you?" Jinta asked with a puzzled look.
"Oh." Natsuro nodded. Then Kisuke and the others must have gone to the location of the other pillar of light.
That should have been at the Ishida household, right? The last remaining pure-blood Quincy family in Karakura Town. Were they subjected to the Auswählen as well?
"Hey, the shopkeeper and the others, they're not in danger, are they?" Jinta asked nervously.
Natsuro looked at him, still just a child, but with the expression of a cheeky delinquent. Natsuro felt like… he'd seen this kind of face before.
"You and Sarugaki Hiyori would make a perfect pair," Natsuro muttered. Both Jinta and Hiyori were the type who looked perpetually scornful and irritating, as if begging for a punch.
"Hiyori? Who's that?" Jinta asked, confused.
"Never mind. One of Kisuke's friends. As for Kisuke and the others, there shouldn't be anything in the Living World that could threaten their lives. Relax." Natsuro reassured him.
"That's good." Jinta sighed in relief.
At that moment, Natsuro suddenly froze. Meikyō Shisui was reaching out to him.
"What is it?" he asked the courtly woman within his inner world.
"Master… with Kisuke away, I can sense the presence of the Hōgyoku."
"What?!" Natsuro's eyes flashed with surprise.
Could Kisuke's absence have loosened the seal just enough for Meikyō Shisui to sense it? But knowing Kisuke's personality, even if he acted frivolous, Natsuro didn't believe he would make such a slip.
Was it deliberate, then? A final test for him, perhaps…
"So, should I take the chance?" Natsuro hesitated for a moment. Maybe it was an open challenge, but if he succeeded in harnessing the Hōgyoku's power, he could save himself a great deal of time.
As for possible traps hidden within the seal? Natsuro dismissed the thought. With his current strength, as long as he didn't get careless, even level-99 binding kidō wouldn't hold him.
If he didn't take this chance, when would the next opportunity come? Was he supposed to move Kisuke emotionally and convince him to hand over the Hōgyoku? Impossible.
Perhaps this was already the outcome Kisuke had expected from the start.
After some thought, Natsuro decided. Since it was a win–win gamble, why not take it?
"Jinta, since Kisuke isn't here, I'll be leaving for now," Natsuro said.
"Huh? You're actually willing to leave?" Jinta looked at him in disbelief. He'd thought Natsuro would stick around forever.
Natsuro shot him a glance. This kid really is asking for a beating.
The next moment, a spatial gate appeared in front of Natsuro. He stepped into it and vanished, leaving Jinta staring curiously at the shimmering doorway. The boy reached out to touch it.
The moment he did, the gate exploded. A violent shockwave hurled Jinta across the room, tumbling him into the wall before he finally stopped.
Rubbing his head, Jinta sat dazed on the floor.
"Natsuro, you bastard, you did that on purpose!" he shouted silently in frustration.
But when he saw spiritual energy beginning to gather again in the air, his face went pale. When it dispersed instead, he exhaled in relief.
After that, he didn't even dare badmouth Natsuro behind his back.
Natsuro had already arrived in a strange hidden space. To his surprise, it wasn't filled with traps as he'd imagined.
In fact, there wasn't a single one.
Though the seal had anti-teleportation wards woven into it, they were useless against him.
"You did well, Umbreon," Natsuro murmured, gently stroking the little creature's head.
"Gula," Umbreon responded weakly. The vertical mark on its forehead had opened, revealing the crimson Rinnegan with nine tomoe.
It was thanks to this spatial power that Natsuro had been able to enter so easily. In the Naruto world, it was a top-tier space technique, and it was no less so here.
No ordinary spatial seal could stop it.
Originally, Natsuro thought he'd only need the Rinnegan's power when venturing into the Great Spirit Book Gallery. He hadn't expected to use it here.
"Kisuke Urahara really is remarkable," Natsuro muttered. His sealing work rivaled the defensive level of the Seireitei itself, perhaps even stronger, since it only had to cover a small area.
Then Natsuro turned to the center, where a glowing, translucent, blue-black jewel floated, radiating an inner light.
"So this is the Hōgyoku?"
Even in its incomplete state, the reiatsu contained within the palm-sized jewel surpassed his own. Natsuro was stunned.
Could Kisuke really have created something like this? Or was his research even more profound than Natsuro had guessed?
With a grave expression, Natsuro extended his hand, broke the last seal with his own reiatsu, and grasped the Hōgyoku.
The moment he did, a strange sensation swept through him.
He could feel a consciousness within the half-formed Hōgyoku, one that was submitting to him.
It acknowledged his strength, as if declaring him worthy to be its master.
"Unfortunately, I only want to borrow your power. I have no interest in being your master or merging with you," Natsuro said with a wry smile.
He didn't want his own strength to be overtaken by external forces. That kind of shortcut might grant overwhelming power for a time, but it always carried consequences.
Yes, the Hōgyoku might elevate him to a higher plane. But after reaching that plane, what then? Would the path forward be blocked by the very thing that raised him?
Others might be satisfied to stand at the pinnacle of this world, but Natsuro wasn't one of them.
As long as another road lay ahead, he would never stop walking it.
Besides, he doubted a half-complete Hōgyoku could truly help him break through. If it could, Aizen wouldn't have schemed for so long to seize the complete one.
And even the full Hōgyoku hadn't saved Aizen from defeat at Ichigo Kurosaki's hands.
So even at its peak, the Hōgyoku was not the ultimate power.
Almost as if it could feel his disdain, the jewel's glow dimmed a little.
Holding the Hōgyoku in one hand and his sword in the other, Natsuro asked, "How does it feel?"
"Master, the stagnation in my progress has finally started to move. My power is beginning to transform toward Hollow energy," Meikyō Shisui replied.
"How quickly?" Natsuro asked.
She shook her head.
Natsuro frowned. If it was too slow, it would be troublesome. His plan had been to finish quickly and return the Hōgyoku to Kisuke when he came back.
Now it seemed he would have to carry it with him.
Sensing his worry, Kyōka Suigetsu added, "To fully transform will take some time. I'll need both the Hōgyoku's power and your reiatsu. After that, I won't need the jewel anymore."
"How long?"
"About three days," she said after some thought, though in truth it would probably take less.
"Three days… still a bit long," Natsuro muttered. But it couldn't be helped.
He embedded the Hōgyoku into Meikyō Shisui, then returned to Urahara's shop. Kisuke and the others had yet to return—as if deliberately delaying.
"As expected," Natsuro murmured. Looking at the sulky-faced Jinta, he grinned and said, "Give Kisuke a message for me. In no less than three days, no more than five, I'll come back to return something to him."
Then he vanished from the shop.
Far away, Kisuke and the others were already leaving the Ishida household. They hadn't been welcomed warmly, but the Ishidas had warned them of a prophecy passed down for centuries.
"The Quincy King…" Kisuke muttered, troubled.
That king had once led an invasion of Soul Society a thousand years ago, defeated only by the Gotei 13 of that era.
And as for the prophecy? The part about reclaiming his power might not be the end of it.
In any case, the Quincy King was a threat they couldn't ignore.
"Better to focus on what's right in front of us," Urahara Kisuke sighed. At least Aizen was something tangible, someone they could see and touch.
But the Quincy King? Kisuke could only glimpse fragments of truth about him from scarce records—the limitations were too great.
"Kisuke." At that moment, Tessai's expression suddenly changed. "The seal I set up… it's been broken."
Kisuke's face darkened. The black cat on his shoulder let out a helpless sigh.
"So it's come to this after all," Kisuke said, sounding a little disappointed.
"You already guessed what his goal was, didn't you?" Yoruichi said wryly. "And the reason you dragged us out here… was to give him the chance."
"That may be true, but it's still a bit of a pity." Kisuke scratched his head with a laugh, as if he didn't mind at all that the Hōgyoku had fallen into Natsuro's hands.
"So what do we do now? Spread word to Aizen that the Hōgyoku is with Natsuro?" Yoruichi asked.
"Mm, no rush. Let's wait a while and see how things play out." Kisuke pressed the brim of his hat down, shadowing his eyes completely.
If the worst came to pass, letting Natsuro and Aizen clash might actually be the best outcome.
"Come on, Yoruichi. It's been a while since we strolled around this city." Kisuke suddenly said.
"I think you just don't want to run into Natsuro right away and deal with the awkwardness," Yoruichi retorted.
"Maah, even if you know, no need to say it aloud." Kisuke chuckled.
The three wandered the city for a time before finally returning to the shop.
"Boss, Natsuro told me to tell you, he'll be back in no less than three days, no more than five, to return something," Jinta muttered after a long struggle, finally relaying the message.
Truth be told, he really hadn't wanted to pass it on. But the thought of Natsuro's smiling face gave him chills. So in the end, he chose not to court disaster.
"…I see." Kisuke froze for a moment. He had considered many possible outcomes, including Natsuro sensing the Hōgyoku's power but leaving it untouched, waiting for their return.
That would have been the best-case scenario, of course.
But Kisuke had already prepared for the possibility of Natsuro taking the Hōgyoku and never coming back. In that case, he would move on to the next phase, pitting Natsuro against Aizen.
Instead… Natsuro had chosen this?
Kisuke found it strange. If Natsuro only needed the Hōgyoku for a few days, why hadn't he just said so?
Even if Kisuke wouldn't have agreed at first, after enough persistence—especially given Natsuro's strength, he would eventually have caved.
So Natsuro had simply… waited this long?
Kisuke couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
"Heh, so it's not the worst outcome after all," Yoruichi said with a smile, lying on the table and licking her paw.
"Indeed." Kisuke smiled too.
At the very least, Natsuro's stance was clear now.
As for the Hōgyoku, if Natsuro wanted to use it for a few days, so be it. Kisuke had already let the Visored use it for much longer; he didn't mind lending it to Natsuro briefly.
In fact, this was quite a good result.
Compared to Aizen, Kisuke far less wanted Natsuro as an enemy.
The more Kisuke learned about Natsuro, the more terrifying he seemed.
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Currently on Chapter 507 - Simultaneous Declaration of War