Chapter 171: Orders of Room Forty Six
"In short, traces of a resurrection appeared inside Seireitei, and it only lasted for an instant."
Mayuri's voice carried that grating cadence, half theatrical, half poisonous. Under the grotesque smile of his mask, his eyes crawled across the captains like insects searching for soft flesh. Then, inevitably, they stopped on Aizen.
"And just as Nemu and I were preparing to report to the Captain Commander, we were delayed on the road. Intercepted, really. Oh, perhaps I should be precise. It was not an intentional interception, but doubt, lack of recognition, and interference."
His head tilted slightly, as if savoring the moment.
"Captain Aizen questioned me, the director of the Technology Development Bureau. I do not know why a rescue captain feels entitled to scrutinize my duties, but he did so anyway."
A low murmur stirred in the room.
Mayuri's grin widened.
"As a result, the most precious response time was wasted. We currently have no method of determining where the traveling beast went. However, if my calculations are correct, it should have fallen from the sky at high speed, directly into the Fifth Division barracks."
He turned his mask a fraction, letting the implication hang.
"And coincidentally, Captain Aizen appeared at precisely that time."
The room did not move, but the air sharpened.
"Of course," Mayuri continued, tone syrupy, "I would never claim Captain Aizen protected the intruder. I only state what is indisputable."
Aizen's expression remained gentle. Inside, his thoughts moved faster than any Shunpo.
Too fast.
Even an emergency order should not move like this.
In his memory, Room Forty Six was the very definition of sluggishness. Their only true talent was dragging everyone else down to their pace, then using their age and position to win the argument by exhaustion.
Yet Mayuri stood here with absolute certainty, as if the verdict had been waiting in a drawer.
Aizen understood in a heartbeat why Mayuri and Room Forty Six fit together so well, and why Mayuri could turn a single momentary signal into a political uproar.
Mayuri took one step closer.
"Captain Aizen disrupted my investigation, questioned the Technology Development Bureau, and doubted my ability. However, Room Forty Six has reviewed my report, and they have found nothing wrong with me."
A few captains remained stone still. A few eyes narrowed.
Mayuri's voice rose with gleeful malice.
"After hearing my report, their first decision was to forward the matter to the Captain Commander and to issue their verdict at this very moment. You do not think there is anything wrong with that, do you, Captain Aizen?"
Aizen breathed once, slow and controlled.
"Of course," he said, voice calm. "I will not question the orders of Room Forty Six."
"That's good."
Mayuri strode to Aizen's side under the gaze of the room, as if this were his laboratory and every captain present was merely another specimen. From within his sleeve, he produced a scroll and pressed it into Aizen's hands.
"A direct order from Room Forty Six," he said, almost singing. "As a rescue captain, you should act like one. In an emergency where a Ryoka may exist in Seireitei, it is only natural to send one or two captains to provide protection across multiple fronts. You do not think there is anything wrong with that choice, do you?"
Aizen opened the scroll.
The handwriting was elegant, antique, the kind Room Forty Six loved, as if beautiful ink could disguise rotten intent. The order declared Seireitei in an emergency state. The root cause, it claimed, was Aizen's interference with Mayuri's report.
No major consequences had occurred yet, it emphasized, yet only for now.
Mayuri required new equipment to examine spirit particle irregularities and the Ryoka threat.
And Sosuke Aizen would be reassigned as an emergency response captain, placed on standby in the Human World.
It was nonsense.
It was also perfectly normal for Room Forty Six.
Aizen adjusted his glasses and, in that small motion, realized the decisive difference between Soul Society and the shinobi world.
He had spent too long in Konoha.
He had forgotten that Bleach's darkness did not always announce itself with blood. Often, it arrived with paperwork.
Compared to Naruto's lineage heavy stability, Seireitei was a machine of internal struggle. Demotions, fabricated charges, noble entanglements, rank shifting, all of it was the essence of this place. Even the Five Great Noble Houses had become four through politics and erosion.
Seireitei had no external enemies worth fearing, not anymore. The Quincy were thought erased a century ago. Hueco Mundo existed as a balance weight. With no true outside threat, the highest powers turned inward.
If there was no enemy, then they would manufacture one among their own.
Aizen's popularity with lower rank Shinigami made him a thorn. Room Forty Six could not openly crush a captain with a spotless public reputation, not without breaking their own rules. But a suspected Ryoka, Mayuri's report, and Aizen's perfectly timed delay gave them a lever.
First, push him out of the inner circle. Then let distance and time do the rest.
Even if Byakuya would not touch such a matter, even if more decent nobles quietly mediated, it would still take years. Ten years, easily.
This was Seireitei's game.
Displease the nobles, and you could vanish under a legitimate excuse. Exile to Hueco Mundo could be written as duty. A belief could erase a clan. A rumor could shatter a house.
In Konoha, the ugliest political solution was assassination.
Here, they could bury you alive with authority.
And Mayuri, having secured research funding from Room Forty Six, no longer cared about proving whether the Ryoka existed at all. For him, the outcome was perfect. Aizen would be removed. The bureau would receive more funding. Mayuri could return to his laboratory.
Aizen read the order again, then let the corner of his mind relax.
Great.
Truly great.
He had been wondering how to conduct chakra based experimentation in the Human World without inviting unwanted attention inside Soul Society. Conducting conversion experiments inside Seireitei carried unnecessary risk. Spiritual particle studies were one thing, but introducing chakra to the equation, even carefully, was foolish when Seireitei's surveillance density was this high.
Mayuri, especially, was not like shinobi researchers who broke ethics for a cause.
Mayuri used ethics as a tool.
He wanted others to be moral so he could profit from manipulating them.
The Human World, by comparison, was looser. And most importantly, Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki had already appeared there.
For Aizen, that was the best news imaginable.
"Oh?" Mayuri leaned closer, as if he wanted to watch the scroll burn Aizen's hands. "Captain Aizen, seeing this warm, harmonious document from Room Forty Six, what's wrong? Speechless?"
Aizen folded the scroll neatly and slid it into his sleeve.
"I am honored," he said, voice mild, "to receive a direct assignment from Room Forty Six to serve as emergency response captain for external support. It is both a test and an opportunity."
Mayuri clicked his tongue.
"Tch. A stubborn bastard."
He retreated to stand behind the Captain Commander, hands clasped behind his back as if finished with his performance.
Yamamoto remained silent, leaning on his cane. In his long life, he had seen backstabbing and political sabotage when the Gotei 13 was truly an assassin band. Compared to that era, this bloodless struggle was mild.
But not everyone stayed silent.
Jushiro Ukitake's expression tightened, pale face flushing as he stepped forward.
"Aizen, wait. This should not be your responsibility," he said, then coughed hard. "Whether the Ryoka exists is still inconclusive. We should first conduct internal examination in Seireitei, cough cough."
Mayuri's head snapped toward him.
"I will say it again, my equipment has absolutely no problems. Think carefully. If I wanted to frame Aizen, would I use this method?"
Ukitake coughed again, more violently.
"But the orders from Room Forty Six should not be like this, cough cough."
"It's alright, Ukitake," Aizen said quietly.
He reached out and supported Ukitake's arm as the other captain's shoulders shook with coughing. There was regret in Aizen's eyes, the kind that made people believe in him.
"It is only a temporary assignment to guard the Human World. Ten years will pass quickly for us. I will have opportunities to return and report every year. At that time, I will entrust you with some important matters."
Ukitake swallowed, breathing uneven.
"Ahem. Has your investigation made progress?"
"We found a few things during the inspection," Aizen replied.
This time, he hoped, there would be a better ending.
His gaze drifted briefly across the room.
Shunsui looked thoughtful, sake bottle untouched.
Gin Ichimaru stood with that half lidded smile, as if the world were a joke told only to him.
Soi Fon remained rigid.
Byakuya remained cold.
Each captain carried their own agenda, their own silence.
Aizen was about to speak again when Mayuri, impatient, cut in with a sharp scoff.
"What a touching friendship. But you only have an hour. The distance to the Senkaimon is not short. I would prefer you not waste time here. I do not trust Captain Aizen's technology."
"Understood," Aizen said, voice perfectly even.
He looked at the captains one last time, then turned back to Mayuri.
"I have a small suggestion. May I reserve the right to relay messages and appeals to Room Forty Six?"
"Absolutely not," Mayuri said at once, almost delighted. "Captain Aizen, you do not actually believe you can maintain captain authority in Seireitei while you are stationed in the Human World, do you? In the Human World, you will serve as a medical leader. Do not bring messengers. This is punishment, not a recording assignment."
"Punishment?" Aizen's smile did not change. "I do not believe I have done anything deserving punishment. As a rescue captain, I believe I should bring communications and recording personnel from Room Forty Six to document suspicious situations and relay them to Room Forty Six and the Technology Development Bureau."
Mayuri's eyes widened behind the mask, and the grin returned.
"Hm. That sounds reasonable. But Captain Aizen, you did not read the appointment carefully."
He jabbed a finger at a line of smaller print on the document, savoring each word.
"Your rescue authority and instructions are in my hands. Team members? Caregivers? I do not think the great and righteous Captain Aizen needs any. You will take this spiritual pressure recording tape and go to the Human World to stand by. Such a simple and lenient request, you won't refuse, will you?"
"Spiritual pressure recording tape?" Aizen repeated softly.
Mayuri produced a familiar black bandage like strip and dangled it between his fingers.
"A captain level Shinigami entering the Human World can cause enormous damage. You will need to suppress spiritual pressure and power. Captain Aizen, you are strong, and experienced. It would not be unreasonable for you to use something better to suppress yourself, would it?"
The malice was simple.
You questioned my technology, so I will bind you with it.
Mayuri would not openly murder a captain. The tape included conditions to unseal. It was vengeance disguised as safety.
Aizen took it, eyes flicking over the recorded unsealing terms.
Then he nodded.
"Then I accept the orders of Room Forty Six."
He fastened the black tape to his wrist.
Around him, captains remained unchanged, as if it were perfectly normal for a captain to be exiled on the spot by Room Forty Six's decision. As if this were simply how Seireitei worked.
Aizen turned away without further argument and walked out of the hall alone, steps steady, heading toward the Senkaimon.
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