Yoshio shook off his thoughts—then grew curious again.
He had high hopes for Nezuko Kamado. She was, in a sense, another Ichigo.
What story would unfold when they met?
Hmm… if Hela became a teacher, there was a chance the two might even be classmates.
Though that was a decade off, time felt slower precisely at times like these.
Even if…
Life slid into sameness.
…
Three years passed, and Angra left the Kurosaki home.
Oddly, while White caused periodic rampages inside Masaki, within Ichigo he was docile—no outbursts in three years.
Nezuko Kamado was the same.
Yoshio ultimately stuck with the name Nezuko Kamado.
Over these three years he often snuck to the living world to check on her.
He understood Aizen's canonical mindset better now—watching a child grow really did bring out the old dad in you.
Nezuko also possessed a Soul Ability.
It awakened three years after birth.
Her Soul Ability: "Mother of Time."
"Mother of Time: Become the goddess embodying time, strength, death, and rebirth. When you dance, the world ends."
It was so absurdly violent that even Yoshio wouldn't dare use it if he had it.
Transform into a goddess and dance? The world ends?
What is this, a live reenactment of Indian myth family drama?!
Compared to Nezuko, Ichigo's ability was much more normal.
"Protect: Designate someone other than yourself and render them invincible—immune to all external harm and interference while the effect lasts."
It worked only on others, but was still powerful.
They were different: Nezuko clearly represented destruction, while Ichigo represented protection. Even split as infants, their destinies were opposites.
Would Nezuko become a violent girl?
Yoshio worried about his daughter's future.
At least for now, she was obedient.
Her environment also differed from Ichigo's. Isshin and Masaki told Ichigo nothing. Yoshio and Hela, by contrast, didn't hide the truth of the world from Nezuko.
Ichigo knew nothing; Nezuko, young as she was, already knew about life and death.
Yoshio wasn't good with kids and didn't have much time to spend in the living world. Who knew what Nezuko would become?
…
"Should we establish an organization?"
On a visit to the living world, Hela—now an English teacher at Mashiba Middle School—suddenly suggested it.
Yoshio blinked, then fell into thought.
Form an organization?
Not a bad idea…
With the Blade that Rends the Heart, he could create many capable subordinates or companions.
Yes—time to build his own faction.
Las Noches was only half his—he was merely the Espada leader.
He needed a force entirely his own, to handle tasks for him.
"I'll be the first member then?" Hela, excited by his serious expression, scooped up the still-bewildered Nezuko and sat on the sofa with her.
Yoshio thought. "Alright. With a group, we can work together better."
"What's the name?"
"Wings of the World. How's that?"
"Wings of the World?"
Hela was surprised. "Why that?"
"Maybe what we do will help this world ascend—like giving it wings," Yoshio said, then added, "I plan to open a company in Karakura."
"What kind of company?" Hela frowned.
"I'll call it 'Brainleaf," Yoshio said. "Give it a little time. After I bring in the next companion, she'll manage it."
"What does the company do?"
"Provide energy."
…
Hela's idea lit a fire in Yoshio.
Sometimes, you can't do it alone. Time to assemble his own force.
He already had a few candidates.
Back in the Seireitei, he glanced toward Division One's barracks.
He pondered: how could he get into Muken?
There was someone in Muken who would be very interested in joining Wings of the World—someone who could become a key ally.
Sōya Azashiro!
But Muken lay beneath Division One. Yamamoto Genryūsai was stationed there long-term—how could Yoshio slip in unnoticed?
In theory, he only needed to speak outside—Azashiro could hear him.
Azashiro had merged with the Seireitei's spiritons. Though Muken's special equipment and seals bound him, preventing external action, he could still observe the outside.
On reflection, this might work.
Muken's seals were once managed by Division One and the Kidō Corps. But after Urahara became Twelfth Division Captain, part of Muken's sealing apparatus was transferred to the R&D Bureau.
The logic was: don't centralize all seals in one place; distribute them for safety.
Sound policy—except Azashiro was… unusual.
He remained in permanent Bankai, deeply fused with Seireitei's reishi. If a single point of the seal weakened, his permeating power could retake his abilities.
In short, he could have escaped long ago.
But he had no reason to.
In canon, he broke out after seeing Roka Paramia—believing her Telaraña could help his plan.
His dream was to eradicate all Hollows.
Over 230 years ago, when he captained Division Eleven, he planned to use his reishi-integration to modify Rukongai souls, granting them combat power, then invade Hueco Mundo en masse.
This was ludicrous—Central 46 would never allow it.
In Muken, he reflected for centuries.
Until he encountered Roka's Telaraña—his chance.
Given his abilities, if he also integrated Telaraña, he could modify humans en masse.
With Telaraña's amplification, he could alter ten million humans a day—finish the entire human race within a year.
Then, modified humans would no longer generate malice—no Hollows would be born.
But that was also fantasy. No one would allow one person to rewrite all human minds—that would grant control over all humanity.
If you eliminate Hollows today, will you destroy the Seireitei tomorrow?
In any case, Azashiro remained in Muken. Break a segment of the seal, and he could appear.
Yoshio decided to move.
He didn't target the R&D Bureau—he couldn't keep milking them. After the parasitic Hollow incident, Mayuri had reinforced defenses, with layers of barriers—entry without permission was hard.
Yoshio aimed at the Kidō Corps' Barrier Unit, which held a portion of Muken's seal—much easier to breach.
Using the Baelz in his shadow to pull barrier surveillance, he located the Muken seal hardware and set out.
He didn't destroy it entirely—just made a small breach that would self-repair over time, leaving no trace.
Then he went somewhere deserted.
"Azashiro Kenpachi, let's talk."
Yoshio spoke to the air.
Reishi in the area stirred, colors gathered, coalescing into a shadow and a human form.
Sōya Azashiro.
Merged with Seireitei, he monitored the entire complex. He knew what Yoshio did. He heard what Yoshio said.
"Rebel of Soul Society, you wanted to see me?" Azashiro said slowly.
He hadn't planned to leave—timing didn't matter. But since Yoshio had gone so far as to breach a seal, he decided to indulge him—hear him out.
"Cooperate?" Yoshio said. "Or better yet—serve under me?"
Azashiro frowned. "Is this a joke?"
His power countered Kyōka Suigetsu well. He knew what Aizen had done with it, and Yoshio was Aizen's accomplice—a traitor.
Azashiro still considered himself a Shinigami.
"I know what you're thinking," Yoshio said. "Your goal is to eliminate Hollows, right? I can do that."
"…That doesn't sound like something a man in league with Hollows would say," Azashiro replied, frown deepening.
"League? Call it harnessing," Yoshio corrected. "If you can use Hollow power to achieve your goal, I don't think you'd refuse."
"Time is short. If this is all, then see you back in Muken," Azashiro said.
Yoshio sighed and produced an object.
A shard of radiance—like a chip from a diamond.
"What is that?"
Surprised, Azashiro felt a gentle power emanating from the shard.
"Let me explain my plan," Yoshio said. "I call it the Seed of Light. It's forged from 'virtuous qualities.' When it integrates into a person, that person gains 'hope.'"
?!
Azashiro's pupils constricted. Yoshio pressed on: "So you get it. If everyone integrates a Seed of Light, humanity will wield hope and virtue. Hollows will cease to exist at the root."
This echoed Azashiro's own scheme—eliminate Hollows at the source.
"May I see it?" he asked.
"Of course." Yoshio tossed him the Seed. Azashiro caught it and trickled reishi into it.
He felt the potency within—and the virtues. "What… exactly is this?"
"The end of evil," Yoshio said. "Have you heard of the Tree of Evil?"
"The Tree of Evil? What's that?"
"This world's filth and wickedness," Yoshio said. "They coalesce into ten nodes. Destroying each Evil nodes purifies that portion of evil."
"The result is a 'Sacred nodes'—the Seed of Light."
"I found the Tree of Evil. But manufacturing Seeds isn't easy. I need help—to finally cultivate a 'Tree of Light' that bathes the world."
These Seeds were made by Baelz.
As Yoshio said, they'd inverted his ability.
Baelz's power was the Tree of Evil—absorbing evil, using its nodes to boost reiatsu and acquire new abilities.
But Baelz wanted a higher ascension.
From the start, they'd had the idea: The Tree's ultimate purpose is to sieve righteous fervor—evil proves justice's existence and rightness. By ending each Evil nodes, one clears purgatorial trials, ultimately attaining divine power.
Angra, an evil man of a filthy world, would hack through the purgatorial road, defeat the ten embodiments of evil, and reach purgatory.
So after Baelz spawned Evil Nodes, he ate none—he saved them.
Over years of study, a path to godhood grew clear.
Angra devised a Purifying Kidō from tomes uncountable—used by a man soaked in evil—to cleanse the Evil Nodes.
The byproduct of purification was the Sacred nodes, and the Seeds were merely the flakes shed during that process.
Purification alone wasn't enough.
To conquer evil requires violence and slaughter.
He needed to implant the ten purified Evil Nodes into suitable hosts—ten people embodying those evils, the Original Sins.
Then Angra would slay these ten sinners, complete the trials, and the nodes would be fully purified—becoming true Sacred Nodes.
During the fusion of Baelz, Angra, and Yoshio, they'd arrange a Sephirotic diagram with the ten Sacred Nodes, and achieve an Ascension.
As they evolved, the sacred energies would billow out, forming a colossal Tree of Light. Its Seeds would flood into every soul.
In theory, it was a Human Instrumentality Project.
Yoshio called it the Light-Tree Plan, hence the faction name Wings of the World.
This was Yoshio's first time sharing his plan with someone else. He left parts out, of course—he didn't mention Baelz and Angra were his avatars, nor his own deification—he focused on the Seed dissemination, the plan's byproduct.
Azashiro had been in Muken for over two centuries, where time and space blur. He thought his emotions were long since worn away.
But now he was shaken.
"If your plan is truly feasible, I can help," Azashiro said quietly.
He had no viable plan of his own; the Rukongai-soldier project was dead. He might as well try another's idea.
And integrating the Seed, he felt Yoshio might actually succeed.
If everyone took in a Seed of Light, perhaps Hollows could truly be eradicated.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked. "How can I help?"
"Purify Evil Nodes," Yoshio said. "It takes massive time and reiatsu—not just quantity, but quality. Only Captain-class reiatsu can grind down the evil factor."
"So I want to found a company in the living world. There, we're free of reishi interference and less likely to be observed."
In Hueco Mundo, evil factors were too active—purification would be harder. In the Seireitei, they'd be noticed.
The living world was best.
"Time isn't on our side. I need to push purification to the final stage, as fast as possible."
"So, will you join me, Azashiro?"
"…"
Azashiro extended his hand. "If I see feasibility, I'll help purify the Evil Nodes."
"Then here's to a pleasant partnership."