After Kuchiki Hibiki escaped from prison, he was unfortunate enough to run directly into Gosuke Shigure, the contemporary Kenpachi. Gosuke Shigure easily defeated him before he could create further chaos.
If Kuchiki Hibiki, having escaped the Repentance Palace, had actually killed any Shinigami, there would have been no hope left for him. At that point, the Kuchiki family would have had only one choice: to abandon him entirely. Only by doing so could they mitigate their losses and protect their family's honour.
Although Kuchiki Hibiki was quickly subdued by Gosuke Shigure, things didn't develop as the Tsunayashiro family had anticipated. Still, as long as they manipulated certain witnesses to testify that Kuchiki Hibiki had killed his colleagues, they could humiliate the Kuchiki family.
Thus, the Tsunayashiro family decided to continue exploiting his earlier imprisonment. From their perspective, although the Kuchiki family was a leading noble clan, they operated openly, while the Tsunayashiro worked in the shadows. The advantage, therefore, remained with them.
However, what they never expected was the intervention of the Shihouin family.
The Shihouin family, known for commanding the Onmitsukidō for generations, chose to assist the Kuchiki. With their covert investigative abilities, they discovered crucial evidence: the Shinigami who had died were not killed by Kuchiki Hibiki.
Instead, the crime had been committed by noble Shinigami who then framed Kuchiki Hibiki to conceal their own deeds. Fearing exposure, they collaborated to pin the murder on him.
The Shihouin family handed this evidence to the Kuchiki, allowing them to present it before Central 46. As a result, even though Kuchiki Hibiki had escaped prison, his original crime of killing comrades became irrelevant – because he had not committed it.
Of course, Central 46 could still have sentenced him to death purely for escaping confinement. But with the Shihouin family siding with the Kuchiki, Central 46 was forced to reconsider.
Although the Tsunayashiro family held considerable sway over Central 46, their power derived mainly from smaller nobles aligning with them to avoid alienating a seemingly ascendant house. However, if the powerful Shihouin joined forces with the Kuchiki, the choice for Central 46 became clear.
Ultimately, Central 46 consisted of representatives selected from noble factions. Their decisions inevitably bowed to the will of the great noble houses. With the Shiba family already expelled from their ranks and the Ise family retreating into seclusion, only three great nobles remained. If two of them united, the outcome was beyond doubt.
Yet the Tsunayashiro family remained unwilling to accept total defeat. This was why Kuchiki Hibiki was stripped of his Shinigami status and his Zanpakutō confiscated.
"Since the Kuchiki family has intervened, we can only let this matter rest," an elder of the Tsunayashiro clan sighed as he spoke to the family head.
Ever since their fall from leading the great nobles, the Tsunayashiro had harboured ambitions to reclaim that pinnacle. But the Kuchiki's dominance left them without opportunity.
Now, just when they had found a chance to weaken the Kuchiki, their efforts had again been thwarted.
"Enough," said the head of the Tsunayashiro family gravely. "Let us focus on something more important. If we succeed, new powerhouses will rise from our clan, restoring us to our former glory."
His words silenced the elder, who nodded solemnly.
Over a thousand years ago, when the Tsunayashiro clan's last true powerhouse perished, it was as if their bloodline had been cursed. Since then, no true elites had been born among them.
Though their two secret swords maintained their status as great nobles, they had long grown dissatisfied with mere survival. They wanted to reign as the foremost noble house again.
Therefore, they devised a new plan.
They would study… the Soul King.
As one of the founding noble families, the Tsunayashiro knew truths hidden from other Shinigami. Long ago, their ancestors, alongside other great nobles, had divided the Soul King's body, scattering his fragments across the worlds. Some of these fragments fused into Shinigami by chance, granting them powerful Reiatsu and unnatural spiritual abilities.
This raised a possibility.
If they could systematically collect Soul King fragments and integrate them into members of their own clan, could they artificially create powerhouses?
In the past, when their clan flourished with natural elites, such ideas were unnecessary. But with their decline now accelerating, desperation forced them to consider it.
During their secret investigations, they discovered that the Shiba family, too, was researching the Soul King's fragments. In retrospect, this was unsurprising. The Shiba had fallen even lower than the Tsunayashiro. While the Tsunayashiro still possessed their two secret swords as insurance, the Shiba had nothing left.
Learning of the Shiba's actions, the Tsunayashiro quickly expelled them from the ranks of the great nobles, denouncing them for their research into the Soul King – the very wedge maintaining the balance of worlds. Their experiments, they claimed, were a threat to existence itself.
The Shiba never imagined that the Tsunayashiro, after orchestrating their expulsion under this pretext, would continue secretly studying the fragments themselves.
Now, the Tsunayashiro family head looked at his elder with narrowed eyes. "Have you found a suitable candidate?"
The elder bowed slightly. "I have."
Because the Soul King's fragments had long since merged with souls scattered throughout Soul Society, they continually reincarnated over countless cycles. Thus, the so-called fragments were now inseparable from the souls that carried them.
The elder detailed his findings. Their target was a young woman recently admitted to Shin'ō Academy. Upon hearing this, the clan head's gaze turned calculating.
"Keep her under discreet surveillance," he ordered. "Once she becomes a Shinigami… we shall find a way to bring her into the Tsunayashiro family by marriage."
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