"What about Muken?"
Having reached a preliminary cooperative relationship with Yoshio, Sōya Azashiro said, "If I suddenly disappear, the Gotei 13 won't let me off easily."
"That's not hard."
Yoshio smiled. "You're in Muken. Normally, no Shinigami examines it carefully. We just need to fake it."
"Under normal circumstances, no Shinigami could ever escape Muken anyway. Hardly anyone would notice."
As the 10th Division captain, Yoshio knew the inner workings of the Seireitei extremely well.
What is his position equivalent to?
A military commissioner commanding an armed police force—at least a full general.
Although Central 46 is the highest judicial body and, in a sense, the direct leadership of the Gotei 13, the captains only move under formal, unified directives issued by Central 46.
It's not like just anyone can order the Gotei 13 around.
So it's not wrong to say Yoshio sits firmly among the highest ranks in Seireitei.
He was therefore very clear on interdepartmental functions. Even if Azashiro left, nobody would notice.
In the original story, if Sōya Azashiro hadn't actively revealed himself, the Shinigami wouldn't even have realized someone escaped Muken.
And once some camouflage and staging were added, it would be foolproof.
Azashiro had been a captain too, with a status similar to Yoshio's, so he understood Yoshio's meaning and, after thinking it over, agreed there was no problem.
Yoshio crafted a gigai for Sōya Azashiro; place it in Muken and it would evade Muken's detection.
After that, Yoshio didn't bring Azashiro to the World of the Living, but instead took him to the Dangai.
"Why stop here?"
Azashiro was confused. "Even without Kōtotsu showing up, the Dangai isn't a good place."
"If I'm creating an organization, it can't be limited to the World of the Living."
Yoshio said, "The Living World is ultimately too fragile. We need a base to store Seeds of Light and prevent their over-accumulation there from causing bad effects."
"Your target is the Valley of Screams?" Azashiro understood.
He wanted to create a secret space.
The Living World is a world of matter—of vessels—so it's inconvenient to stockpile too many spirit particles there.
That could unbalance the Three Realms.
Normally, captain-class Shinigami appearing in the Living World must be fitted with limiters.
They need the Living World's environment free from spirit particle interference to calmly purify Evil Node. But they also need a spirit-particle world to store the purified Seeds of Light.
Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are out, so it must be a newly opened or found space.
The Valley of Screams was a good choice.
The Valley is a special spirit-particle space within the Dangai, seemingly formed by souls shed within the Dangai.
But such Valleys are usually small; making a large, stable spirit-particle space isn't easy.
After finding Valleys of Screams, Yoshio pondered how to modify them.
In canon, Urahara Kisuke used the Fullbringers Yukio and Riruka to collect and create stable, human-habitable Valley spaces.
But right now, even if Yoshio found them, it likely wouldn't work:
They haven't absorbed Kurosaki Ichigo's Fullbring; they can't externalize their powers yet.
Yoshio thought for a moment and took out a doll.
When it appeared, an evil, ominous aura spread, forming a droplet of floating ink in the Dangai.
It looked like ink only because it was the purest, condensed black; essentially, it was still a gas.
"What is that?" Azashiro's eyes widened at the black gas; the aura unsettled him.
"This is Hell."
Yoshio said softly, "Something simulated by a big shot from Hell."
It was the communication device left to him when he met the ancestor of the Tsunayashiro clan.
A Tsunayashiro possessed by the founder, reincarnated through Yoshio's Hell of Solitude—an artifact, a product of Hell combined with Yoshio's Bankai.
It served as Hell's anchor point within the Three Realms, naturally radiating a hellish aura.
After taking out the doll, Yoshio murmured, "In the three realms, there is no peace; the multitudes in the Hell of Solitude. They suffer in separation, as if dwelling in blazing fire."
In an instant, the Hell of Solitude spread from him again.
"What are you doing?"
Azashiro knew Yoshio's ability sent people into a Hell of Solitude and tensed.
Frankly, Yoshio's ability was his hard counter.
No matter how vast his body, he had only one consciousness.
If that consciousness sank into the Hell of Solitude, even an invincible body would be helpless.
But he quickly realized Yoshio wasn't targeting him.
"You're going to create a real Hell of Solitude?!"
Azashiro quickly realized Yoshio was setting a domain: using his Zanpakutō's power combined with nearby Valleys and the hell-phosphor-reeking doll to materialize a Hell of Solitude.
"Yeah."
Yoshio said, "Is there any better hiding place?"
He let go. His Zanpakutō dropped, and its domain extended outward through the Dangai.
Valleys fused together, with the Zanpakutō and Hell doll at the core, constructing a ten-meter-diameter pocket dimension.
"This means you can't take your Zanpakutō back for a while," Azashiro said.
"No matter. Nothing big will happen in Seireitei for now," Yoshio replied.
The Hell doll needed to serve as the core until the space stabilized before it could be removed.
But as Yoshio said, nothing big was coming to Seireitei; leaving it was fine.
Using the Hell of Solitude as his main base was a great choice.
It had natural layers of defense; others couldn't easily peer into it.
First, because it shared Hell's properties—created using hell-phosphor from the Hell doll—offering resistance to Hell's own gaze.
Second, because the Hell of Solitude was akin to Yoshio being permanently in Shikai: any will entering without his permission would fall into the Hell of Solitude.
For now, though, this Hell was far from complete; the Valleys were still fusing.
"Let's head to the Living World."
Leaving his Zanpakutō there, Yoshio brought Azashiro back to the Living World.
They returned to Hela's home.
It had only been a day since Yoshio last visited.
It was night; when Yoshio and Azashiro arrived, Hela was about to sleep.
Yoshio was about to speak, but Hela hushed him. "Nezuko is sleeping. Let's talk outside."
"Okay."
The three stood on the roof, the night breeze blowing as they looked at Karakura Town, lit even at midnight.
"They say Karakura's only a suburb, but that's not quite right. Life here is good—slow pace, even a nightlife," Yoshio said, leaning on the rail.
The breeze stirred Hela's golden hair. "Compared to other places, Karakura really is best for us. High spirit density is rare."
Only Karakura had such a density—a bit of spiriton concentration—otherwise they would feel far worse.
"And this is…?" She looked at Azashiro.
Yoshio introduced them. "Sōya Azashiro, the eighth Kenpachi—he's strong."
Then to Azashiro, "This is Hela. Don't be fooled by her appearance—she's not weak."
"…" Azashiro had a flaw: he could only see appearances, not inner natures, so it was hard to imagine a human being strong.
But since Yoshio said so, he wouldn't argue.
"I'm going to found a company in Karakura. It'll need managing. Azashiro, your family used to be merchants—can you help?"
Originally, the Azashiro family rose by force, but after becoming nobles they shifted from martial merit to a merchant house.
That transformation was a mistake. Without force, you can't protect your assets in the dog-eat-dog Seireitei.
Look at the Ōmaeda clan—filthy rich, yes, but they've been 2nd Division lieutenants for generations! They have the power to protect their wealth!
The Azashiro missed that and let their martial side rot. Other nobles played a small trick and swallowed their assets whole.
Most of the clan died; only Sōya Azashiro survived.
Azashiro nodded. "I didn't have much hands-on experience with the family businesses, but I can help."
With Azashiro's ability—virtually omniscient and omnipotent—running a company was trivial.
If he transplanted a portion of Seireitei into the Living World—like his fusion with Seireitei—then he'd be nearly all-knowing.
Managing a company would be more than easy.
Seireitei is large; with just a fraction of Reishi, Azashiro could merge with half of Tokyo.
Though the Living World has fewer Reishi, Azashiro can fuse not just Reishi but matter.
And matter fused by him only works better.
The three discussed and set a plan.
Azashiro would remain in the Living World but not with his original face—no problem for him.
Provide a gigai; he would attach himself to it.
No need for the R&D Bureau—Yoshio could craft gigai himself.
As for identity, Azashiro could handle that.
Afterward, Yoshio returned to Seireitei.
He already had several ideas for Wings of the World members, but roads are walked step-by-step.
Anyway, those split off by the Blade that Rends the Heart immediately gained strong power, so he wasn't in a rush.
It wouldn't do to lose his Zanpakutō on a trip, but forging a fake one was no problem—just to fool people.
Seireitei had no incidents requiring his captain to deploy, so he only needed to wait.
…
In a blink, three years passed.
One day after work, planning to check on the Hell of Solitude's growth in the Dangai, Yoshio was visited by Kira.
Kira was now 3rd Division lieutenant, and his Soul Ability had changed.
Initially it was "Bird Killer," but now it was "Disgusting Bankai."
"Disgusting Bankai: Your bankai becomes very disgusting."
Er, the name alone was gross.
His Zanpakutō was in the Dangai as core, so Yoshio hadn't tested what this Soul Ability did.
Kira's favorability toward him exceeded 90, so Yoshio naturally received the Soul Ability when it changed.
The change likely stemmed from his bankai.
If Hinamori learned bankai, then Kira of course learned it too.
Yoshio hadn't seen either of their bankai—normal; no one advertises their bankai's ability.
Especially with Hinamori near Aizen and Kira near Gin; once they noticed the two had bankai, they'd have warned them.
But Kira's bankai was apparently so disgusting that even his Soul Ability morphed toward it.
"Kira, it's been a while. You look gloomier."
"Do I?" Kira shook his head. "Captain Yoshio, I came for something."
"Oh?"
"Let's talk inside."
Yoshio brought him in, and Kira said, "Captain Yoshio, don't you think Hinamori's been acting strange lately?"
"…" Yoshio frowned. "Strange? In what way?"
Aizen only recruited Hinamori. Even though Kira learned bankai, Aizen still shut him out?
...