Soul Society, Seireitei, Fourth Division Barracks, Comprehensive Medical Center, Second Floor.
"Move aside, move aside!"
"Vice-Captain Touya, I need help here!"
Amidst the bustling crowd, a Shinigami whose body had been gnawed by a Hollow was urgently carried in.
Soon, a male Shinigami squatting by a bed, performing a Kido spell, stood up. Without turning around, he used Shunpo and arrived in front of the newly arrived injured Shinigami.
"Leave him to me. You can go help the other Shinigami."
The male Shinigami said softly, his spiritual energy dancing. The injuries on the injured Shinigami immediately began to heal.
As more and more injured Shinigami were treated, time gradually moved into the late night.
Finally, after taking care of the last injured Shinigami, the Fourth Division members and officers breathed a sigh of relief.
Similar situations occurred in this Comprehensive Medical Center almost every few days.
Therefore, everyone was used to it. The only thing that made the Fourth Division members talk about was their Vice-Captain Touya, who was almost exactly like their Captain, Retsu Unohana. Both were incredibly kind people.
Being with them always filled people with happiness.
However, these Shinigami would never know that the truth was far more complex than it appeared on the surface.
In the early morning streets of Seireitei, peace and tranquility reigned. Only a few scattered trees along the street swayed gently in the night's cold wind.
A male Shinigami with brown short hair, brown eyes, and wearing black-framed glasses and a Shinigami uniform strolled leisurely.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past, and a figure accurately landed beside the male Shinigami.
"Aizen-sama, this is the harvest this time!"
The figure took out a transparent box from his chest, inside which dozens of different-shaped spiritual energy orbs could be seen.
As they spoke, they happened to be under the moonlight. If any Fourth Division members were here, they would recognize that the Shinigami who had just arrived was their Vice-Captain, Touya Shuichi.
"Hmm."
Aizen nodded slightly after listening, took the box with one hand, and put it in his sleeve. Then, he continued walking slowly forward.
Touya Shuichi, who had been following Aizen for decades, naturally knew that since the latter hadn't used Shunpo to leave, there must be something else to be instructed. Therefore, he followed half a step behind Aizen.
The two walked for a while, stopping only when they reached the area where the noble mansions were located.
Aizen looked up at the magnificent buildings in front of him. "I remember, you secretly assassinated a noble because you couldn't stand his behavior."
"Yes, Aizen-sama. It was because of that incident that you noticed me and brought me onto this path of light."
Touya Shuichi lowered his head and replied respectfully.
"Thanks to your occasional 'warnings' after that, for all these years, those nobles have only dared to rage impotently at those criminals. However, it seems like this state is about to be broken."
Aizen said with narrowed eyes.
"Aizen-sama, do you need me to take care of those nobles who are overstepping their bounds?"
Before Touya Shuichi could finish, he saw Aizen in front of him shake his head slightly.
"How many times have I told you, Shuichi, just killing a few nobles won't change this corrupt Soul Society. Don't secretly target those nobles, not this time, and not in the future!"
"I understand, Aizen-sama."
Touya Shuichi nodded obediently.
Then, Aizen looked at the noble mansions in front of him for a while before using Shunpo to leave. From beginning to end, Aizen didn't mention the specific matter.
However, Touya Shuichi knew that since Aizen didn't specifically explain, it meant that he could easily learn about it with his status. That's why Aizen didn't bother to elaborate and only gave a slight hint.
Sure enough, when the time came to the next morning, before Touya Shuichi even had a chance to inquire, several Fourth Division officers revealed the matter.
"Did you hear? Yesterday, the Ninth Seat of the Sixth Division and his team had a dispute during a mission. So he directly attacked and killed the team member and the Shinigami who came to intervene!"
"Not only that! I heard that his wife also went to persuade him! But he didn't even spare his own wife!"
"No way? Why wasn't any of them sent to us yesterday?"
"What do you think? Those Shinigami were all killed on the spot. The Ninth Division directly dispatched people to arrest and collect the bodies!"
Through the conversation of these officers, Touya Shuichi also roughly understood what happened.
This event at this point in time was merely to introduce a key character and a future villain, Tōsen Kaname.
Therefore, Touya Shuichi immediately understood the profound meaning behind Aizen Sousuke's words last night.
It was to make him solidify his stereotype of nobles in his mind, and at the same time, add a sense of justice to what they were currently doing.
The reason why Touya Shuichi could have this understanding was entirely because he was not a native of this world but a transmigrator from a certain Blue Star.
Unfortunately, it seemed like he had brought the wrong template when he transmigrated. He had the same template as those who had transmigrated to ancient Blue Star, meaning that besides the advantage of foresight, he had nothing else.
Touya Shuichi, the ordinary Shinigami from Rukongai who he had transmigrated into, had decent spiritual pressure aptitude, but that was about it.
He had to train his Hakuda, Kido, and Zanjutsu himself. His Zanpakuto also needed to be slowly explored after he joined the Shin'o Academy.
So, after working hard for nearly a hundred years, he finally realized that he wasn't cut out to be a Shinigami.
Because his brain, filled with the logic of a modern person, couldn't understand the logic of power in the Shinigami world like other transmigrators.
For example, what was this "Jinzen" thing? He had to communicate with his sword? It was just a simple Zanpakuto! How could he communicate with it?
And what was this "spiritual energy flow" and "spiritual energy control"? He was completely baffled.
He also only understood the principle of Shunpo by imitating.
Only Zanjutsu was a bit better, since he had seen some in movies and TV shows in his previous life.
What was even more tragic was that the teachers in the Shin'o Academy didn't care about Touya Shuichi's life or death. They just showed up for work on time and left on time. As for whether he learned or not?
If you couldn't learn, it meant you didn't have the talent.
This made Touya Shuichi suspect that all of these teachers had gotten into the Shin'o Academy through backdoors.
And when Touya Shuichi finally entered a division, the vice-captain responsible for teaching Shinigami after joining a division could only recite from the textbook. He couldn't offer any effective solutions to the problems Touya Shuichi raised.
This led to Touya Shuichi's Hakuda, Zanjutsu, and Kido skills, all being almost unusable.
He essentially wasted all that time.
With no other choice, Touya Shuichi didn't know how many nights he had pulled out his hair and made a decision that went against his ancestors.
He had to find a way to join Aizen!
Because at this time, Aizen hadn't used hair gel, didn't have the Hōgyoku, and was still in a period of low-key concealment.
He wouldn't have any usable talents under him.
If he went to him now, he wouldn't directly reach the peak of his life, but at least Aizen would patiently answer his questions.
Who wouldn't love watching their loyal subordinates gradually become stronger?
As for the question of whether following Aizen would lead to killing gods,
Touya Shuichi believed that he wasn't a person with high moral standards. He just wanted to survive.
Shinigami had long lifespans. As long as he survived the key periods when the future bosses caused chaos, he would be free to do whatever he wanted.
At worst, he could just hide in the World of the Living like a certain shopkeeper (Touya Shuichi's unrealistic fantasy at the time).
More importantly, judging from Aizen's attitude towards Gin Ichimaru and Tōsen Kaname, Aizen didn't treat his own people badly. He would definitely give them good things.
And as long as Touya Shuichi didn't do anything stupid and didn't make stupid requests like Tōsen Kaname, Aizen wouldn't actively take his life.
As for Yhwach later, Touya Shuichi also had a plan in mind, which was to never interfere and to help with the birth of Ichigo Kurosaki if necessary.
The roar of other transmigrators who believed that their fate was in their own hands didn't exist in his world.
Just like what a certain Bronze Dragon said in a certain online game in his previous life, since there was a predetermined outcome that would lead to victory, why would he change the process?
Touya Shuichi only needed to ensure that he survived carefully during that process.
As for other people? Well, they were all "necessary sacrifices" for the final victory.
Yes, Touya Shuichi's moral bottom line was very flexible.
Originally, Touya Shuichi's plan was to take Tōsen Kaname's place in the original plot. However, when he joined Aizen, Aizen's research on the Hōgyoku hadn't reached the step of using "the souls of civilians with Shinigami aptitude." At that time, Aizen was still on the path of researching the Shinigami's power itself. Therefore, he needed a lot of Shinigami spiritual energy as material.
And collecting materials by ordering Hollows to attack Shinigami was simply too inefficient. Touya Shuichi, in order to show his worth, volunteered to join the Fourth Division.
Then, he took the opportunity to treat Shinigami and extract their spiritual energy.
He had been doing this for another sixty years.
Seeing Touya Shuichi slowly rise from an ordinary member to the Fourth Division's Vice-Captain, his actual strength also rose from being inferior to even a low-level officer to the level of a captain.
Hakuda, Shunpo, Zanjutsu, and Kido finally became usable under Aizen's guidance.
At least, Aizen proved to Touya Shuichi that he was only average in spiritual pressure aptitude and had a poor understanding of the world's power system, but he wasn't a complete waste.
It could be said that even if he was promoted to captain now, he would be capable.
Unfortunately, the division he is currently in, the Fourth Division, is led by Captain Retsu Unohana, who is not someone to be trifled with.
Therefore, Touya Shuichi was extremely cautious in the Fourth Division, never giving Retsu Unohana a chance to catch him extracting spiritual energy from Shinigami.
As expected, when the time came to the afternoon, the Fourth Division also received a notice from the Central 46 – in principle, Captain Retsu Unohana of the Fourth Division was to attend the trial of Tōsen Kaname today.
But in reality, those who understand would know that if they said "in principle" to allow it, it meant that she could choose not to go. For this type of meeting, Retsu Unohana naturally wouldn't have any interest.
Therefore, the task of attending ultimately fell on Touya Shuichi, the vice-captain.
And Touya Shuichi could actually choose not to go because the main reason for having Fourth Division members attend such meetings was to worry about unexpected situations and to facilitate timely treatment.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, no one would hold him accountable afterward.
However, Touya Shuichi wanted to see the future boss, and secondly, he knew that this meeting wouldn't be that simple.
Otherwise, Aizen wouldn't have mentioned it last night.
He probably meant for him, the Fourth Division's vice-captain, to go in his place.
There was no way around it. After all, Aizen had just been transferred to the Fifth Division by Captain Shinji Hirako of the Fifth Division and was still the lowest-ranking member of the Fifth Division, a nobody.
"Let me go and see this trial that's a 'beacon of hope.'"
A mocking smile appeared on Touya Shuichi's lips. He folded the reply in his hand, handed it to the member outside the door, and left.
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Hello!
Meow Cafe maid here, I don't promise high quality translation but I'll try to make it as readable as possible.
I'll try to make the names of major characters as accurate as possible.
That's all thank you ^^