Inside Las Noches.
It was a secret room that only Aizen could enter.
Sosuke Aizen slowly raised the Hogyoku in his hand. His eyes flashed with a touch of obsession. He seemed to be looking at the truth of this world because only he knew Hogyoku's true ability.
Hogyoku was not used to break through the limit.
Instead, it could sense the hearts of those around it and materialize their deepest desire.
Sosuke Aizen held the Hogyoku in his hand and slowly closed his eyes. He recalled his true desire. He wanted to stand at the apex of this world!
Hogyoku's light flickered slightly.
Sosuke Aizen slowly sensed the ability that Hogyoku had given him. This Hogyoku could allow him to obtain an immortal body, and he could recover no matter what kind of injuries he suffered.
Once he was unable to defeat his enemy, it could allow his strength to evolve further, allowing him to obtain power that surpassed his enemy.
Sosuke Aizen slowly opened his eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, "Maybe the next time we meet, I can see what level that Mr. Madara's ability is at... It's really exciting. Whenever I think of him, I can feel my nerves trembling..."
That Madara was too powerful!
It was just that after getting the ability to evolve from Hogyoku, Sosuke Aizen wanted to try to fight with Madara so that he could obtain the power to advance to another dimension!
Moreover, according to the information provided by Orochimaru and Kabuto, as long as he firmly believed that his strength would surpass the enemy sooner or later, Hogyoku would let him continue to evolve, giving him the possibility of defeating any strong enemy...
As long as he maintained his confidence and maintained the power that was recognized by Hogyoku, otherwise, once his heart collapsed and he retreated, he would stop evolving!
"But that first seat might not be the strongest, right?"
Sosuke Aizen smiled and looked at Hogyoku. He continued to talk to himself, "Speaking seriously, as the head of that Mr. Madara, that little guy Naraku definitely has the power to surpass him..."
Sosuke Aizen's words stopped abruptly.
It was because Sosuke Aizen had clearly sensed Hogyoku's abnormal movements!
Sosuke Aizen's entire mind was focused on communicating with Hogyoku. He could clearly feel that Hogyoku's light had become somewhat dim...
"You are afraid."
The corners of Sosuke Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly.
"But you are not afraid of me."
The power in Sosuke Aizen's palm grew stronger and stronger.
"Is the person I mentioned an existence that makes you afraid?"
Sosuke Aizen's voice was a little bewitching, but he did not get Hogyoku's answer. Hogyoku did not speak, it only had its own emotions.
Uehara Naraku!
Why did Uehara Naraku make Hogyoku feel fear?
Was it because Uehara Naraku had the spiritual power of thirteen clan heads, and the existence of that spiritual power even made Hogyoku feel fear?
Or...
In fact, Uehara Naraku had the power to make Hogyoku fear him.
Sosuke Aizen put Hogyoku away again and began to think about things when he met Uehara Naraku. That little guy had always been very respectful to him...
This kind of respect...
Now that he thought about it, there was something wrong.
Sosuke Aizen's fingers bent slightly. At that time, it looked like there were no flaws in Uehara Naraku's body. His expression looked like that of a pure and kind child...
That feeling...
It made Sosuke Aizen feel more and more familiar.
A guy who looks harmless to humans and animals obviously has a very high status, and everyone in Seireitei believes that he would never hurt Seireitei...
This feeling...
Sosuke Aizen's finger dropped suddenly!
Everything Uehara Naraku did now, what he himself did when he was Gotei 13's 5th Division Captain!
The two of them were so similar!
Sosuke Aizen was once considered to be the most talented Shinigami, even though he had always concealed his own light and concealed his strength that surpassed the other Shinigami captains.
Hiding the Kyouka Suigetsu Zanpakuto's real strength in his hand, he behaved like an ordinary Shinigami captain.
Even so...
It did not escape Orochimaru's line of sight.
What about Uehara Naraku?
Orochimaru had never denied Uehara Naraku's talent and terror!
Compared to himself, Orochimaru seemed to recognize Uehara Naraku's talent more!
Then...
Why was it that Uehara Naraku's strength did not surpass his?
Uehara Naraku possessed the spiritual power of his thirteen ancestors. He possessed thirteen Zanpakuto, who could be said to be strong in any era. He possessed the resources and secret techniques of the entire Uehara Clan for thousands of years. He possessed the power to influence Seireitei and even Soul Society!
Then...
Why did he think that Uehara Naraku would not surpass him?
Sosuke Aizen had once calculated his own strength. With his talent, he had already jumped to the peak of Shinigami in a short period of time. The rest of the progress could only be accumulated through time little by little.
Yet he ignored it...
Why did a Uehara Naraku whose talent was stronger than him in other people's mouths not show any strength that was comparable to him?
If it was because Uehara Naraku was unwilling to attack Sosuke Aizen out of respect for himself, Sosuke Aizen was not willing to believe this kind of word at all!
There must be a flaw here.
Once Sosuke Aizen believed that he had discovered Uehara Naraku's true face, he began to deduce little by little through the things that Uehara Naraku had done...
Yes.
Uehara Naraku chose to join Gotei 13.
This situation did indeed seem to be harmful to the independent status of the Uehara clan, but it also eased the relationship between the Uehara clan and Seireitei's higher-ups. For a time, the Uehara clan's power and influence were even more flourishing than before!
If all of this was hidden by Uehara Naraku...
Then the so-called integration into Seireitei may be just bait dropped by Uehara Naraku!
Over the years, the Central 46 and Gotei 13 thought they could slowly incorporate the Uehara clan. They did not refuse any request of the Uehara clan. Any conflict between Seireitei and Uehara clan was resolved by the concession of Central 46...
The Central 46 and Gotei 13 were always giving in.
However, the Uehara clan made more and more unreasonable demands in this kind of concession.
The Central 46 and Gotei 13 were practically been giving almost forever, but what the Uehara clan has paid was only a clan head who claimed to join Gotei 13...
The Central 46 and Gotei 13 were blinded.
Because this family head's performance was so excellent that every higher-ups and Shinigami captain were willing to believe that the Uehara clan would be integrated into Seireitei under his leadership...
However...
All of this was an illusion.
Whenever there was a conflict of interests that damaged the Uehara clan, the 13 Death Servants of the Uehara clan would appear. They would stubbornly stop their family head, Uehara Naraku, from doing those things like making concessions to the Central 46...
The final result was...
The Central 46 was forced to make concessions in front of these Death Servants.
Uehara Naraku would lightly say that he could not go against the Death Servants so the Central 46 had no choice but to forgive him while hoping that Uehara Naraku would grow up and take power...
It was really interesting...
What made Aizen feel strange was that...
This kind of thing happened quite a few times.
Unfortunately, Central 46 and Gotei 13 were always deceived by Uehara Naraku, because he behaved too much like a young, ignorant, and kind little guy!
No one had ever doubted it.
Even Sosuke Aizen had never doubted this.
If not for the fact that Hogyoku was afraid of the name Uehara Naraku today, Sosuke Aizen wouldn't have suspected Uehara Naraku...
That guy's performance was clearly so clumsy!
That guy was clearly just acting like a coward that didn't fit his identity!
However, it was precisely because of that cowardly look that everyone had lost their judgment!
The head of Soul Society's number one family could do whatever he wants in the entire Seireitei, so how could he act so cowardly?
Everyone hated him for not fighting!
However, no one doubted him!
Because they all thought that Uehara Naraku had the entire Uehara clan on his back so there was no need to do this at all. However, he should be really been pretending the entire time!
Of course.
It would be too arbitrary to define Uehara Naraku as a person who likes to pretend and hide his own strength...
However, Uehara Naraku's character setting was too likable, but everything about him should be a disguise!
Sosuke Aizen thought quickly.
Everything that had happened between them had appeared in Sosuke Aizen's mind. Now that he thought about it, it was full of flaws!
Why did Uehara Naraku show mercy to Hollow?
Was it because of his cowardice or because of kindness?
No, it was because his strength was strong enough that he did not need to care about Hollow's life and death at all!
Even at that time, the strength that Uehara Naraku displayed was enough to kill any Menos who wanted to assassinate him, not to mention that he still had hidden strength!
The many secret arts that the Death Servants of the Uehara clan used...
Uehara Naraku had almost never used it before. He even rarely used it because he had no need to make a move at all or was too lazy to do it!
Once he made a move, the chances of him being exposed were too high!
And the last time Uehara Naraku made a move was when he was snatching Hogyoku from Rukia's body. At that moment, he only used one Zanpakuto, Fata Morgana, a very dangerous but very powerful self-protecting Zanpakuto!
That little fellow did not stop him from taking Hogyoku away...
Sosuke Aizen glanced at the Hogyoku in his hand.
In a short moment, Sosuke Aizen seemed to have seen through Hogyoku and saw the disdain Uehara Naraku had for Hogyoku. Was his strength so powerful that he did not care about Hogyoku?
It was no wonder...
Even Hogyoku fear Uehara Naraku.
If it was like this, then what was Uehara Naraku's real purpose?
In an instant, Sosuke Aizen completely erased this thought from his mind, and he almost instantly decided on two answers.
Uehara Naraku wanted to become Soul Society's god.
Uehara Naraku wanted to rule the entire Soul Society.
"Other than these answers, there seem to be no other answers, right? After all, what everyone else wants to get for their entire lives has long been at his fingertips..."
That should be it.
That was why Uehara Naraku was willing to hide his reputation.
Moreover, he did not care about his reputation.
Because as long as Uehara Naraku could do it, everything he has done before was just a small pleasure for him.
Sosuke Aizen clenched his fist again. The corners of his mouth slowly curved into a smile, as if he was a little self-deprecating, but also a little appreciative.
At this moment...
One could well imagine how angry and embarrassed Sosuke Aizen was.
A little brat that he had always looked down on and even thought of as a chess piece had actually been playing with him, the mastermind behind the scenes, in the palm of his hand. That little brat must be secretly mocking him, right?
No wonder...
Mr. Kabuto had never dared to look down on Uehara Naraku. So after Uehara Naraku graduated from the Spiritual Arts Academy, he hurriedly hid in Soul King Palace!
Sosuke Aizen could not help but guess that maybe Kabuto had suspected Uehara Naraku before, but he also had a glimmer of hope for Uehara Naraku...
Sosuke Aizen forgot his embarrassment and anger. He had no time to do those useless emotions and had to think of his countermeasures...
Now, he had discovered Uehara Naraku's true face.
However, Uehara Naraku did not know that he had already discovered all of this.
As long as he worked hard, there might be other hopes, such as continuing to stand behind the scenes and secretly reveal Uehara Naraku's true face, so that Uehara clan and Seireitei would fight to the death.
Under the ground of Las Noches' research room.
Just when Sosuke Aizen was still thinking about this, Black Zetsu, who was underground, was extremely surprised. It heard what Sosuke Aizen said to Hogyoku...
Sosuke Aizen must have suspected Uehara Naraku.
According to Sosuke Aizen's wisdom, he would definitely be able to deduce that Uehara Naraku had hidden his real strength.
"Finally suspicious?"
Black Zetsu's eyes narrowed slightly, and a sinister smile appeared on his face, "There have never been secrets that are hidden forever in the world. How could Hagoromo, who knows the most about these secrets, not make any preparations for the secret being found?"
Sosuke Aizen had discovered it too early!
Moreover, the most troublesome one was Sosuke Aizen's Hogyoku. This Hogyoku could actually warn Sosuke Aizen!
This was not strange...
Because the person that Hogyoku was afraid of...
It should be a god that everyone in this world was afraid of!
The only problem was that Black Zetsu also needs to test what kind of thing Sosuke Aizen Hogyoku had. It was best to find a way to enter Sosuke Aizen's body and find out the function of Hogyoku!
What if Hogyoku also made Sosuke Aizen suspect him?
That would be too unfavorable for their plan to monitor Sosuke Aizen!
However, Uehara Naraku seemed to have mentioned that Hogyoku was a living creature, and it seems to be just a strengthening tool...
"Forget it, thinking about it is too troublesome..."
The corners of Black Zetsu's mouth curled up, and his sinister smile grew bigger and bigger, "When a person is thinking about a problem, you should follow the person thinking and give him an answer he wants, making it difficult for him to find other solutions to this problem.
Hagoromo gave us an answer.
Now it is time to give Sosuke Aizen an answer."
This was the best way to control others.
As long as Black Zetsu told Sosuke Aizen what he wanted to know, it might make Sosuke Aizen believe that everything was still under his control!
Several months passed.
Sosuke Aizen was still thinking about how to deal with Uehara Naraku.
Recently, Sosuke Aizen liked to stay in the secret room alone because he had not come up with a suitable method.
"Lord Aizen."
A dark figure emerged from the underground of the secret room.
"Huh?"
There was a hint of displeasure on Aizen's face.
"I'm really sorry..."
Black Zetsu lowered his head, and the corners of his mouth curled into a faint mocking smile, "Hehehe... Lord Aizen, I know that I shouldn't disturb you at this time...
But yesterday, when I was monitoring Urahara Kisuke, I swallowed a White Zetsu who was about to report to Urahara Kisuke. From its memory, I found a very interesting secret, a secret that you would definitely be interested in..."
Black Zetsu slowly raised his head and looked at Sosuke Aizen. The mocking smile on his face became deeper and deeper, "The young lord of the Uehara clan that you have always valued... does not seem to be as simple as we think!"