Hearing Isshin say this, everyone present fell silent.
Indeed, as Isshin said, at that time he was ambushed, and that Vasto Lorde Menos Grande was as cunning as a fox, hiding in the shadows.
Even if it didn't continue ambushing Isshin, it would attack the ordinary people around, devouring their souls to recover itself.
If Masaki hadn't appeared at that time, using herself as bait to lure out White and kill him, whether Isshin could have survived was truly unknown.
After all, the one who ambushed him could do it once, and could do it a second, third time.
Judging from the other party's actions, they clearly didn't want to kill him personally and expose themselves, but only wanted to injure him, letting him die at the hands of that Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande.
Or, judging from that strange Hollow, Kisuke suspected that Isshin was the next Shinigami Hollowfication test subject chosen by Aizen.
"Captain Shiba, come back with us!"
Rangiku said: "I will plead with Captain-Commander Yamamoto to reduce your punishment."
"Lieutenant Matsumoto, that won't work!"
As soon as Rangiku finished speaking, Urahara Kisuke spoke up: "Captain Shiba's Reiatsu was only used to seal the Hollow Reiatsu inside this young girl; it hasn't truly been lost."
"Under such circumstances, once Captain Shiba moves too far from this Quincy girl, his Reiatsu will return to him."
"At that time, this Quincy girl will still be devoured by the Hollow's Reiatsu inside her and transformed into a Hollow!"
"This..."
Rangiku hesitated.
Undoubtedly, according to Kisuke, Isshin and this Quincy girl's lives were now bound together.
If they took Isshin back to the Seireitei, what punishment Isshin would face was still uncertain.
But this Quincy girl would inevitably turn into a Hollow.
The Hollow's Reiatsu corrupting this Quincy girl came from a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande.
Undoubtedly, after becoming a Hollow, this Quincy girl would also become a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande.
In such a situation, to prevent her from devouring more people, she could only be purified.
"Alright, Rangiku."
Seeing Rangiku look at him, Kyoya spoke: "What you were worried about before was just Captain Shiba's safety."
"Now, although Captain Shiba has temporarily lost his Reiatsu, his life isn't in danger."
"Rather, it's better for Captain Shiba to stay in the living world and maintain the status quo."
"After all, from this incident, it seems Captain Shiba has been targeted by those people."
"If he returns, he would not only face punishment from the Central 46 but also possible persecution from the shadows."
"With Captain Shiba's strength, even if his Reiatsu recovers, it's impossible for him to survive against the mastermind."
"Hey, Kyoya, that's going too far."
Hearing this, Isshin was the first to complain: "Even among the many Captains of the Gotei 13, my strength isn't weak!"
"If I hadn't been ambushed this time, how could I have ended up in this state?"
"Captain Shiba, your strength is indeed not weak."
"But compared to the one behind the scenes, the gap is still too large."
Kyoya shook his head: "From what I know, currently in the Seireitei, aside from Captain-Commander Yamamoto, the entire Gotei 13 is like a toy in his hands."
"If he weren't wary of Captain-Commander Yamamoto's power, the Seireitei would have long become his experimental garden."
Kyoya wasn't talking nonsense here.
Look at how after Aizen conquered Hueco Mundo, he captured almost all the powerful Hollows and transformed them into [Arrancar]. It shows that in Aizen's heart, besides himself, there was no one else.
If not for Yamamoto's presence in the Seireitei making Aizen wary, the Seireitei's fate probably wouldn't be much better than Hueco Mundo's.
"That terrifying?"
Once Kyoya said this, not only Isshin, but even Tessai and Kisuke's expressions changed.
"Kyoya-dono, do you know who the person behind the scenes is?"
Kisuke couldn't help but ask.
After all, he only sensed something wrong with Shinji and the others' Reiatsu and went with Tessai to investigate, finally learning of Aizen's actions after Aizen and the others appeared.
So how did Kyoya know?
"Ha, why wouldn't I know?"
Kyoya crossed his arms and raised his chin: "Isn't it just Aizen Sousuke?"
"From the very beginning, I knew Aizen had problems. It's just that Aizen's actions didn't affect me, and Aizen also knew his limits, never targeting the people around me."
"So, over all these years, I never bothered with him."
"Captain Kyoya, if you know Aizen is the mastermind behind all this, then do you know that Captain Ichimaru Gin, who came with you, is also one of Aizen's subordinates?"
"What?"
Hearing Kisuke say this, Isshin was greatly surprised and looked at Gin.
And Tessai instantly moved to the door and extended his right hand towards Gin's direction.
If Gin showed any intention to escape, he would immediately attack first.
Seeing Tessai like this, Rangiku also immediately drew her Zanpakuto.
However, she didn't point her Zanpakuto at Gin, but instead stood in front of Gin, warily looking at Tessai.
"Lieutenant Matsumoto, please step aside."
Tessai said solemnly: "I apologize, I didn't recognize earlier that Captain Gin was the youth following Aizen Sousuke over eighty years ago."
"It wasn't until Urahara-sama pointed it out that I remembered."
"Back then, those who attacked us along with Aizen Sousuke, besides Aizen, were the youthful Captain Gin and a young man wearing an eyepatch."
"Tessai, that young man with the eyepatch is now the Captain of the 9th Division."
Kisuke added.
"Captain Gin, surrender!"
"Before us, you have no chance to send a message to Aizen Sousuke!"
"I say, aren't you all too tense?"
As Kyoya's voice sounded, everyone realized that, at some point, Kyoya had appeared behind Tessai, grabbed his hand, and twisted it aside.
"Also, Rangiku is my family. Tessai-dono, even if it's you, if you threaten Rangiku, I will not hesitate to kill you!"
"Hiss-"
Everyone present gasped in shock.
Even Kisuke was no exception.
They knew Kyoya was strong.
But how strong exactly, they had no concrete concept.
Among their group, aside from the unconscious Masaki, including Rangiku, all were powerhouses with Captain-level strength.
Yet, they didn't even see when Kyoya moved to Tessai's side and twisted his arm away.
It was as if Kyoya was originally in that position, and they only noticed Kyoya when he acted.
And the fear in Tessai's heart was no less than the others.
Although Tessai was the Grand Kido Chief-
Just looking at Tessai's physique showed his Hakuda prowess was not low.
But in Kyoya's hands, he had no ability to resist.
"Kyoya-sama, were the things you said earlier all lies?"
"Are you and Aizen working together?"
Kisuke raised his cane and questioned Kyoya.
"Huh?"
"Do you think Aizen would dare let me join his plans?"
Kyoya raised an eyebrow and said amusedly: "Over all these years, Aizen Sousuke and I have maintained a certain tacit agreement."
"It seems he knows his Zanpakuto's ability is ineffective against me, so he has never provoked me."
"Do you think, with Aizen Sousuke's personality, he would invite me?"
"No!"
Kisuke shook his head.
Although he didn't know Aizen very well either, just from this guy liking to hide in the shadows and pull strings, he knew Aizen was an extremely cautious person.
Such a person liked to control everything.
For things he couldn't control, he would eliminate them.
If he couldn't eliminate them, he would stay away.
From Kyoya's words, it wasn't hard to hear that Aizen chose to stay away from Kyoya.
Even in Aizen's various plans, he never involved the Shinigami of the 11th Division.
It was precisely because of this that Kyoraku had once suspected Kyoya.
This intelligence was learned after coming to the living world, through Yoruichi using the Shihoin Clan's intelligence organization to exchange information with Kyoraku.
Now, he realized that Aizen was indeed very wary of Kyoya.
Kisuke wasn't a fool.
Seeing Rangiku protecting Gin like this, and Kyoya protecting Rangiku, he knew his judgment of Gin's identity might be wrong.
"Captain Ichimaru Gin isn't one of Aizen Sousuke's people, but one of your people, Captain Kyoya?"
"Tsk, Urahara, the way you say that makes it seem like besides me and Aizen, there's no one else in the entire Seireitei."
Shaking his head, Kyoya said: "Ichimaru Gin is just Ichimaru Gin. He isn't one of Aizen Sousuke's people, nor is he one of my people."
"Gin only acts according to his own will, doing what he feels he should do."
"Of course, regarding Gin, you can rest assured."
"Gin's goal is to kill Aizen Sousuke."
"No matter what entanglements you have with Aizen, as long as you don't affect Gin's actions, then Gin won't interfere in your conflict with Aizen."
"Of course, since Gin is still ostensibly Aizen's man, if Aizen has any plans targeting you, you'd better be prepared to fail."
"After all, Gin's strength is no less than any of you!"
The black cat on Kisuke's shoulder arched its back, glanced at Kisuke, and after Kisuke slightly shook his head, lay back down.
Kisuke sighed: "Kyoya-dono, I apologize for our offense."
"However, Captain Gin, may I request that after you return, you do not reveal our location to Aizen?"
"Don't worry."
Gin narrowed his eyes: "Captain Urahara, I'm only interested in killing Aizen."
"And you are helpers who can restrain Aizen for me, allowing me to better see Aizen's flaws."
"How could I possibly expose you before you even have the strength to confront Aizen?"
"Yare yare, Captain Gin's words..."
Kisuke shook his head.
Although Gin's words made sense-
But stating so directly that they lacked the ability to deal with Aizen was too discouraging.
"Captain Urahara, I feel what I said was already quite reserved."
"The name of Aizen Sousuke's Zanpakuto is [Kyoka Suigetsu]."
"Its ability isn't to turn its own Reiatsu into mist to confuse the enemy's sight and senses, making enemies trapped in the mist kill each other."
"Rather, it's 'Control Over the Five Senses'!"
"According to the information I've gathered, anyone hypnotized by Aizen Sousuke will have their five senses controlled by him."
"He can make an ordinary mosquito in front of you, by altering your five senses, appear as a dragon, smell the sulfur from the dragon's mouth, hear the dragon's terrifying roar, feel the scalding heat of the dragon's skin..."
"This..."
After hearing this, Kisuke and the others' expressions immediately changed.
No wonder over all these years, they hadn't been able to collect evidence of Aizen's crimes in the shadows.
With such an ability to manipulate the five senses, Aizen could make others see and hear whatever he wanted.
Probably even if Aizen killed someone right in front of everyone, he could use Kyoka Suigetsu's ability to make everyone think he was swatting a mosquito.
"This ability, doesn't it have any flaws?"
"Perhaps it does."
"But at least so far, I haven't found any."
"Oh, right."
"Aizen Sousuke's Kyoka Suigetsu hypnosis isn't temporary."
"It's permanent!"
"Once Aizen Sousuke completes the hypnosis ritual, no matter how much time passes, as long as Aizen releases his Zanpakuto, the five senses of all hypnotized people will be controlled by him."
"Aizen named his Zanpakuto's 'Five Senses Manipulation' ability, [Complete Hypnosis]!"
"From what I know, most people in the Seireitei have already undergone Aizen Sousuke's hypnosis ritual."
"In other words, if Aizen wishes, he could launch a rebellion at any time, enough to destroy the Gotei 13!"
"Hiss…"
Kisuke and the others were startled once again by Gin's description of Aizen Sousuke's ability.
Five Senses Manipulation, Complete Hypnosis...
Undoubtedly, if they couldn't deal with Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu, then in a fight against Aizen, they probably couldn't even be sure whether the person they were fighting was Aizen or their own companion.