Soul Society.
A crescent moon had just risen.
Inside the 5th Division barracks.
A dry landscape garden—zen-style—sat in silence. Arranged stones formed concentric ripples around the space.
"As expected, the first thing Naruto-kun does upon returning to Seireitei is come find me." The man working in front of the "pond" paused and looked up.
His gaze extended outward.
Atop the courtyard wall, the dim solitary moon cast a sharp shadow—straight and cutting—into the darkness.
"Captain Aizen, after plotting such a grand scheme, you still have the leisure to tend the garden yourself," Naruto leaped down, landing atop an artificial rock.
"It's merely what was bound to happen," the man replied with a smile, meticulously placing each tool back where it belonged. "And it's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Naruto-kun, aren't you pleased?"
Naruto thought for a moment and nodded. "I suppose I am."
Aizen beamed.
"If it had all happened naturally—without someone shady pulling the strings—it would have pleased me even more."
Aizen extended a hand. "Even after witnessing so much, Naruto-kun, do you still hold such thoughts?"
"The grotesque, insane face of Kanyūdai Tokitana..."
"Is that not enough to wake you up?"
Naruto tilted his head, face calm. "You're a strange one."
"You make no secret of what you're doing..."
"Yet you insist on pointing out others who are even darker, even more conniving."
"As if doing so lets you justify your own actions under the name of 'justice'."
Aizen gently responded, wearing a big-brotherly smile, "Am I not justified?"
"If you mourn the ants trampled beneath the wheels of justice..."
"Then, after seeing the deeds of the Kanyūdai clan..."
"How much hatred is left in your heart?"
"What drives you to raise your blade against me? Hatred? Or the sense of responsibility that's always been ingrained in your life—something you follow almost subconsciously?"
A drifting cloud covered the crescent moon.
Night's shadow crept in, enveloping the 5th Division.
Also enveloping it was the power of Kyōka Suigetsu.
Division members walked by.
None saw them. None heard them.
"What's wrong with responsibility?" Naruto replied directly. "It's because of this responsibility that I haven't fallen and become something like Tokitana."
"And what about you, Aizen?"
"What do you want?"
"What drives you to do all this?"
Aizen chuckled and pushed his glasses. "I thought we'd need a few more conversations like this before getting to that question."
He raised a finger, pointing up.
"Naruto-kun, tell me—what do you see?"
Naruto followed the direction.
Dark clouds. Dim stars. A weak wind. A sliver of crescent moon... forming an endless sky.
"Is that the sky?" Aizen whispered.
"No... that is the throne above all."
"Do you think someone sits upon that unreachable throne?"
Naruto didn't reply.
Aizen lowered his hand. "Above the five great noble families, there exists the Spirit King."
"He is the master of Soul Society."
"Yet he lets those nobles run wild..."
He paused and stepped forward, his tone heavy and filled with temptation. "He possesses power, but does nothing."
"He is the root of all evil."
"My goal is to kill him and become the new master of that throne."
A wild gust of wind blew through.
It swept away the clouds covering the moon and chased away the nearby ones as well.
Dim stars twinkled.
The moonlight seemed a little brighter.
"That's what you pursue," Naruto said softly.
Aizen smiled. "Isn't that enough reason for you, Naruto-kun?"
"Plenty of justification," Naruto shook his head. "If your understanding were correct."
"Oh?" Aizen raised an eyebrow with mild curiosity.
Naruto grinned. "Aizen, you're not as all-knowing as you think."
Aizen opened his palms. "I never thought I was."
"No, I mean it's even less than you think." Naruto grinned brightly. "What you think you know... isn't the truth."
Aizen narrowed his eyes.
A few hours earlier, at Urahara Shop.
Yoruichi Shihōin had told Naruto everything she knew of history.
The Shihōin ancestors never denied their complicity.
In fact, according to clan records, the only vaguely heroic figure was an ancestor of the Shiba family, who had tried to replace the Spirit King with his own body—as the "wedge" holding the world together. But it wasn't easy. A Shinigami didn't qualify.
Urahara Kisuke theorized that to recreate a Spirit King, one would need to combine all powers in existence:
Shinigami, Quincy, Fullbringer, and Hollow.
It sounded absurd.
How could one person possess all four powers?
But Yoruichi's acknowledgment of the Shihōin clan's guilt confirmed some of what Tokitana had claimed.
"The Spirit King is not the ruler of Soul Society," Naruto said plainly, revealing the truth. "He is a human pillar, a keystone, used to stabilize the three realms."
"He was persecuted—by the Kanyūdai clan and others like them."
"He never had any real power, and thus never let anything happen."
"Aizen..."
Naruto paused, blue eyes full of sincerity. "I wish I could still call you 'Sōsuke'..."
"Back when your sins had not yet reached the point of no return."
"It's not too late to repent."
Using captains as test subjects was an unforgivable crime.
But once you see more, once you understand more...
How many can truly claim to be free of guilt?
Not even Naruto dared say that of himself.
And in the Gotei 13, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's sins weren't any lighter than Aizen's.
Yet he was released from the Maggot's Nest.
Even if Aizen were thrown into Muken, the deepest prison, there could still be a chance for his release.
"Oh, I see," Aizen whispered, his eyes lighting up—completely unmoved. "So no one sits on that throne from the start?"
"In that case..."
"I have even more reason to claim it."
"Rather than let those despicable people keep using its name to deceive others."
Naruto froze.
But he wasn't surprised by this response.
"I see. So you're still set in your ways," he said quietly.
Aizen sighed, still smiling. "Looks like we were never destined to walk the same path."
"When the day comes that we cross blades..."
"I won't show any mercy."
Naruto's tone was firm. "I will spare your life."
"Unless..."
He looked past Aizen toward the 5th Division barracks. "Your sins reach the point where they are truly unforgivable."
"Then I'll personally send you to the throne you so desire."
Aizen smiled and shook his head.
"If your only confidence lies in that pet of yours..."
"You might want to reconsider."
"It doesn't seem very smart."
Naruto replied, "You've underestimated it, Aizen."
The two faced off.
Aizen was the first to break eye contact, picking up his tools and continuing to tend the garden.
Naruto left.
The 7th Division still had order to maintain.
At that moment, Seireitei was in chaos.
The Kanyūdai family, while not entirely wiped out, was close—its main branch left with only a few children. Everyone from the head down to the successors had been slaughtered.
Even some branch members were killed.
Once a flourishing noble family like the Shihōin...
Now reduced to the level of the nearly extinct Kuchiki clan, with only Tokitana left as heir.
Central 46 was furious.
The Head Captain remained calm.
The Stealth Force was busy. Suì-Fēng barely visited the 7th Division anymore.
But after a few days, everything went quiet.
Though little solid evidence was gathered, all signs pointed to one fact: the culprit behind the mass deaths of the Kanyūdai family was none other than the current family head—Tokitana Kanyūdai.
He himself issued the order for Central 46 to cease investigation.
By comparison...
Naruto injuring Tokitana—causing a piece of his ear to be sliced off—was met only with a light scolding from the Head Captain.
"Foolishness!"
"Even if he's in the wrong, you shouldn't have harmed him."
And he was sentenced to reflect within the 7th Division barracks, banned from leaving Soul Society for the human world for twenty years.
Central 46 wasn't satisfied with the punishment.
But...
Tokitana's attitude made them reconsider.
When questioned during the investigation, he had only one answer:
He tilted his head and pointed to the scar on his ear.
"This is a mark left during an intimate exchange with Captain Uzumaki in the human world."
No matter the question, that was the answer.
There was no way to disprove it. No way to explain how he operated in both the human world and Soul Society simultaneously.
It gave the Central 46 quite the headache.
He was supposed to be one of the Five Great Nobles.
Also reportedly a fellow student of the Head Captain's disciples: Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō.
So how was he so completely unlike Byakuya Kuchiki?
It wasn't without suspicion.
Rumor had it the Kanyūdai clan possessed an ancient Zanpakutō, the oldest in existence. No one knew what it did now, but if anything could accomplish such feats—it would be that.
But because it involved the secrets of the Five Great Noble Houses—it was a taboo among taboos.
7th Division Barracks.
Suì-Fēng gritted her teeth, venting to Naruto about the 46's decision.
Clearly, the investigation could've continued, but instead...
Now she finally understood why Yoruichi had held such disdain for nobility and power in the past.
(End of Chapter)