Chapter 83

Everyone assumed Yoruichi's silence meant Yoruichi shy, so they didn't press her further.

At this moment, Chad, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked, "Mr. Yoruichi, you said he was the previous holder of the title of strongest, so who has that title now?"

Hearing Yoruichi, Yoruichi fell silent for a moment. Why the title of Xuanxin Kenpachi had been transferred to the current guy—others might not know, but she certainly did! It was all because of her own actions!!

Seeing this, Yoruichi didn't know how to explain. Just then, a strange building appeared before them.

"Oh! We're here. I told you Kūkaku's house was easy to find!!"

Upon hearing Yoruichi's words, everyone looked up, but when they saw the building in front of them, they all gaped in astonishment.

At this moment, Uryū and Ichigo looked at the bizarre building in front of them, their entire being filled with resistance.

"Hey, Ichigo, are we... really going to walk into this house?!"

"Perhaps... maybe, yes."

Unlike the two's stiffness, Orihime seemed quite interested in the house, and then exclaimed in surprise before following Yoruichi inside.

By the time they reached the front door of the house, Ichigo and Uryū's resistance had reached its peak! They simply couldn't imagine who could have made their house look so bizarre.

However, no matter how much the two refused, they could not change the fact that they had to go in. In the end, Chad carried the two resisting people into the courtyard from behind.

As soon as everyone entered the courtyard, the gatekeepers of the Shiba Clan, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, initially intended to drive these people who had suddenly appeared out of the courtyard. However, upon seeing Yoruichi's figure, their attitude immediately changed 180 degrees, and they respectfully invited Yoruichi and the others into the room.

Seeing the two men being so respectful to a cat, Uryū began to have some doubts.

Yoruichi then led everyone to meet Kūkaku Shiba.

When everyone saw Kūkaku, they were stunned. They had considered all sorts of possibilities for Kūkaku, from a handsome young man to a rigid old man, but none of them expected that Kūkaku Shiba would be a one-armed older sister!

Similarly, Kūkaku was stunned for a few seconds upon seeing Ichigo, a fleeting look of disbelief crossing her eyes. After all, Ichigo and Kaien looked remarkably alike.

Yoruichi then offered her help, and Kūkaku readily agreed.

After seeing that Kūkaku agreed, everyone felt relieved. Seeing that everyone was tired from the journey, Kūkaku told them to rest first, and that she would discuss the specific plan with Yoruichi later.

Afterwards, everyone left and, led by Koganehiko Shiroganehiko, went to their guest rooms to rest.

Watching the crowd depart, Kūkaku smiled and said to the black cat before her, "What? The renowned Flash Goddess Yoruichi, the God of Fleeting, actually has a day when she can't even enter the Seireitei?"

Upon hearing this, Yoruichi and didn't respond to the joke. Instead, she moved a few steps closer and then told Kūkaku everything about Ichigo's identity, Kaien's cause of death, and all the conspiracies.

With each thing Yoruichi said, Kūkaku's expression darkened. Kūkaku tossed his pipe aside and said, "Fine, I'll help you out, but I need a few days to prepare."

"Okay, thank you. By the way, they don't know my identity yet, so please remember to keep it a secret."

After Yoruichi finished speaking, she left Kūkaku's room, leaving Kūkaku alone sitting there, continuing to smoke her pipe in frustration.

That evening, while everyone was having dinner together, Ganju, who had been out having fun all day, rode his boar Bonnie back to the Shiba Clan, making a ruckus.

"Yo~ Big sister, I'm back! I wasn't late today! I also heard that yesterday at the White Road Gate..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ganju noticed Ichigo sitting in the corner, and immediately started yelling like Yoruichi who had been stepped on.

"Big sister!! Why is there a Grim Reaper in our house?!" she said, glaring at Ichigo with a hostile expression.

Ichigo, of course, wouldn't let Ganju either, so the two started arguing in the room, and the argument grew louder and louder, completely drowning out Orihime's attempts to mediate.

Yoruichi stretched out her hind leg and scratched her ear, just as she was about to stand up to stop the two from arguing, Kūkaku appeared between them first.

With two crisp "clangs," Kūkaku raised his knife and mercilessly left a mound of earth above the two men's heads.

Ultimately, the dinner party was able to proceed normally thanks to Kūkaku's forceful suppression.

At the same time, Old Man Yamamoto learned of the impending attack by the Ryoka.

So, Old Man Yamamoto slammed his cane down and decisively gave the order:

"Effective immediately, the Seireitei is under martial law. The entire Soul Society will be under lockdown to apprehend the Ryoka. During this period, overall defense will be the responsibility of Shihoin Genshin, and logistical support will be the responsibility of Shunsui Kyōraku."

The moment the order was delivered, Kūkaku Shiba received this "bad news" through special means.

So, early the next morning, Ichigo was woken up by Yoruichi and groggily arrived at the Shiba Clan's conference room.

Ichigo rubbed his sleepy eyes, glanced around at the equally bewildered crowd, and then fixed his gaze on Kūkaku, who was sitting in the main seat.

"We've received some news from the Seireitei, both good and bad. Which one would you like to hear?" Kūkaku asked the group.

Ichigo and the others exchanged glances and said, "Of course it's good news."

Upon hearing this, Kūkaku revealed a mischievous smile and said, "Since you want to hear bad news, then I'll tell you. I was originally going to tell you the good news first~"

Ichigo rubbed his face and muttered softly, "Actually, you just wanted to tell us bad news, didn't you?"

Kūkaku naturally heard the muttering, but this time Kūkaku ignored it and instead spoke with a serious expression:

"The Seireitei is now under martial law, and the Second Division is in charge of the defense this time." He then glanced at Yoruichi.

"Second Division, what's that?" Ichigo scratched his head and turned to look at Yoruichi.

Yoruichi, leaning on the table, calmly said, "The Second Division can be simply understood as an intelligence unit and an assassination unit."

"Oh? That's a good thing. After all, those who do intelligence work and assassinations are usually weaker in direct combat, aren't they?" Hearing Ichigo's words Orihime and the others nodded in agreement.

Looking at the children's innocent faces, Yoruichi said calmly, "The captain of the Second Division is... Shihoin Genshin."

Upon hearing this, the previously optimistic crowd instantly froze.

Seeing the petrified crowd, Yoruichi added, "The good news is that, according to the intelligence we've gathered, Rukia's imprisonment location and execution time have been decided. We still have about 30 days, which is quite ample."

Hearing Yoruichi's words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, as long as there is time, there is still hope, isn't there?

At this moment, the Ganju that had been quiet all along suddenly sprang up again and shouted at Kūkaku:

"What did you say, 'Big Sister'? Who are they trying to save?! Rukia?! Rukia Kuchiki, the one who killed Kaien- nii?! I..."

"Shut up!"

Before Ganju could continue, he was ruthlessly interrupted by Kūkaku. Seeing this, Ganju stopped talking and simply went to a corner of the room to sulk.

Kūkaku sighed and continued, "Now that that guy has taken over the defenses, it's impossible for you to enter Seireitei from the air through my defenses."

"Why! Isn't it already...?" Ichigo asked from the side.

Kūkaku tapped her pipe and said, "Of course, if you want to be sliced into pieces by that guy right in the air, I don't care."

After listening to Kūkaku's analysis, Yoruichi pondered for a moment, a thoughtful expression appearing on her cat-like face:

"If that guy has taken over the air defense barrier, then going from the sky is practically suicide. That makes things difficult... What other options are there?"

Suddenly, Yoruichi's cat eyes lit up, and she turned to Kūkaku, asking, "Kūkaku, do you remember where your house used to be?"

Hearing Yoruichi's words, Kūkaku blinked, then her eyes lit up and she slammed her hand on the table, saying, "You mean...?"

"Yes! That's the place!" Yoruichi said confidently, slapping the table with her cat paw.

Seeing the two of them exchanging cryptic glances, Ichigo, Ganju, and the others exchanged uneasy looks, a sense of foreboding rising within them.

Chapter 83

Yoruichi, who quickly had an idea, left the Shiba Clan with the words, "I'll go investigate. You can take care of these kids for me."

Meanwhile, in the Seireitei, in the Seijōtōkyorin, in a place that originally belonged to the Central 46, two Captain's Haori's haoris were discussing something.

Kaname Tōsen looked at Aizen and said, "Lord Aizen, now that we can confirm that what we're looking for is inside that Shinigami, shouldn't we speed things up?"

Upon hearing this, Aizen shook his head, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes, and said:

"No rush. Teacher Xuanxin is already suspicious. If we accelerate things again now, it might disrupt our plans. Besides, Hueco Mundo needs a few more days to prepare. So, let's wait. Moreover, I'm quite interested in those Ryoka."

After saying that, Aizen looked in the direction of the White Road Gate, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Yes, Lord Aizen."

Upon hearing this, Kaname Tōsen said nothing more, simply nodded, and then disappeared from the spot.

Meanwhile, the people at the Kūkaku family's residence were also busy. After Yoruichi left, they began a new round of special training under Kūkaku's command.

Ganju was also training with them. Although Ganju was quite averse to the idea of "going to rescue Rukia," Ganju eventually joined the rescue team out of his unconditional trust in his older sister.

During a break in training, Ichigo also learned about Rukia and Kaien's cruel past from snippets of conversation between Ganju and Kūkaku.

After learning the truth, Orihime always believed that there must be some kind of misunderstanding in this matter, and she used this as a reason to try to persuade Ganju. However, Ganju never gave a formal response, but just gritted his teeth and trained without saying anything.

A few days later, one Yoruichi, Yoruichi, who had disappeared for several days, finally reappeared at Kūkaku's house.

At this moment, Yoruichi's originally shiny black fur was covered with dust, and the whole cat exuded a muddy smell.

Ichigo Yoruichi's disheveled appearance, Ichigo immediately mocked, "Yoruichi- san, where have you been? Did you go to the countryside to steal sweet potatoes? You're covered in dirt, haha!"

Upon hearing Ichigo's teasing laughter, a # appeared on Yoruichi's forehead.

Then Yoruichi gracefully walked up to Ichigo, knelt down, and gently waved her paw, gesturing for Ichigo to lower his head, as if to say, "I have a huge secret to tell you."

But when Ichigo lowered his head, what greeted him was not a secret, but a claw that rapidly enlarged before his eyes, even gleaming with a cold light.

Yoruichi set of "Meow Meow Punch," followed by Ichigo's scream. Then, three smooth lines of blood could be seen on Ichigo's left cheek.

Looking at her masterpiece, Yoruichi licked her paws with satisfaction and shouted to everyone, "Alright, enough fooling around! Everyone, come with me in a bit, I've found a way to enter the Seireitei!"

A moment later, Yoruichi led everyone to a pile of ruins.

Looking at the familiar scenery around him, Ganju said, "Hey, isn't this where I lived when I was a child? What are we doing here?"

Upon hearing Yoruichi jumped onto the collapsed stone wall and looked at everyone, saying, "That's right, this is the former site of the Shiba Clan. There's an underground tunnel leading to Seireitei. I've explored it. Although some sections have collapsed, we still have time. I think digging through it shouldn't be a big problem."

After saying Yoruichi thoughtfully pointed with her tail to the helmet and shovel placed at the entrance.

Yoruichi, seeing the hesitant crowd, said, "What are you all looking at! Get to work! Do you expect me to dig?"

Upon hearing this, Ichigo reluctantly picked up the shovel and walked towards the tunnel, saying, "You still want to dig a tunnel? You really are going to steal..." But before he could finish his sentence, Ichigo noticed Yoruichi's cold gaze.

Seeing that things were going badly, Ichigo quickly jumped down and began his underground work.

When the group entered the tunnel, they found that although it was called a tunnel, it was actually quite spacious inside, at least enough for Orihime to stand and walk around. However, Chad and the others felt a bit uncomfortable.

"But speaking of which, Yoruichi- san, why is there a secret passage beneath the Shiba Clan's old house? Does Ganju know about it?" Ichigo asked while working.

"How would I know? Not long after I was born, my older sister blew up the old house," Ganju complained from the side.

"..."

"Do you know Mr. That Yoruichi?" Orihime asked, turning her head.

Upon hearing Orihime's question, a nostalgic look flashed in Yoruichi's eyes before she said, "This tunnel was dug by my friends and me when we went out to play back then, but it seems we dug it a bit crooked."

"Your friend is really something," Ichigo casually remarked.

"Hmph~ Get to work! At this rate, by the time you finish digging, Rukia's seventh day memorial will have already passed!" Yoruichi said, jumping onto Ichigo's back.

Thus, a brutal and inhumane labor reform program was officially launched.

Uryū, who always pays attention to his image, was initially very careful while working, afraid that the mud he splashed would get on his clean white clothes.

However, Yoruichi's repeated pranks, Uryū gave up on maintaining his image and just kept his head down, digging in the dirt, hoping to leave this place as soon as possible.