Kyōsuke Kuchiki, in High Demand

Around the spot in Karakura Town where the Adjuchas had appeared, there were countless alarming readings!

"Hiss—!"

Even Kisuke Urahara couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

"Just how many Gillians were there?"

"Just how strong is that guy Kuchiki?"

His interest piqued, he quickly put the matter of Aizen out of his mind for the time being and carefully compared the data, scribbling something down.

He didn't know that Sōsuke Aizen had not actually left after walking out the door.

The man wore glasses, and his usual gentle expression had vanished completely, leaving him looking utterly cold.

When he heard no movement inside the room, he took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses.

A few seconds later, he suddenly sighed.

"What a pity."

"Captain Urahara's technical research abilities are quite impressive."

His voice was by no means quiet, yet Kisuke Urahara, just behind the door, heard nothing at all.

He didn't even notice Aizen's presence.

Kyōka Suigetsu's Complete Hypnosis was that terrifying.

After wiping the lenses clean, Sōsuke Aizen put his glasses back on and brushed the hair away from his forehead.

"Whew—"

"Let's speed things up."

"There have been a few too many surprises."

"It's time to clean up the unstable elements."

He looked back at the large characters spelling out "Twelfth Division Captain's Office," then silently left.

A few days later, at the Research and Development Institute.

"Captain, these are all the reports from the scene."

A small, slender woman with blond hair tied in a high, spiky ponytail knocked on the door and walked into the room.

It was Hiyori Sarugaki, the current lieutenant of the Twelfth Division.

When she saw Kisuke Urahara sprawled over his desk, fast asleep, a vein immediately throbbed on her forehead.

"Hey! Get up!"

"Weren't you the one who told me to bring you the files? What do you mean by falling asleep yourself?!"

Hiyori Sarugaki unceremoniously smacked Kisuke Urahara with the files in her hand.

"Hm? Oh, it's you, Hiyori. Did you bring the files? Thanks."

He jolted awake, squinted and yawned, then took the files and began looking through them carefully.

Seeing this, Hiyori Sarugaki looked puzzled.

"Didn't that baldy Aizen already tell us everything there was to say?"

"And it all matched what the others saw at the scene. What else is there to look at?"

"Nothing much. I'm just curious about the limits of his strength... and a few other things."

"Him? Who? That second young master of the Kuchiki Clan who's been making such a splash these past couple of days?"

Hiyori Sarugaki's voice was full of curiosity, and Kisuke Urahara suddenly stopped leafing through the files and smiled in satisfaction.

"Just as I thought."

"What?"

Hiyori Sarugaki leaned closer, curious.

But the report was complicated, and its conclusions couldn't be understood at a glance.

She noticed only one key statement.

"The Reiatsu distribution of the Gillians at the scene was uneven, with many different signatures, suggesting dozens of distinct samples..."

After slowly reading it aloud, Hiyori Sarugaki couldn't help freezing.

"Huh?"

"Dozens of distinct samples?"

"I thought when they said that... they were just exaggerating the number!"

If that conclusion was correct, then Kyōsuke Kuchiki...

Had taken care of dozens of Gillians by himself??

And an Adjuchas on top of that?

If she remembered correctly, only a few minutes had passed between Gin Ichimaru's call for help and the Fourth and Fifth Divisions setting out to support them and arriving at the scene!

Even for a Captain-level fighter, that speed was terrifying!

No matter how she looked at it, it was impossible!

"You understand now too, don't you?"

Seeing Hiyori Sarugaki's expression change, Kisuke Urahara smiled with excitement.

"Captain-level Reiatsu? No, no, no. That kid has genuine Captain-level strength!"

"And he might even be beyond the level of an ordinary captain!"

"Captain-Commander Genryūsai has really found himself a treasure!"

"This guy... might become the Kuchiki Clan's..."

"No, that's not right. He might become one of the strongest in all of Soul Society!"

Kisuke Urahara's voice was unusually excited, and a fervent light flickered in his eyes.

The sight of him even frightened Hiyori Sarugaki a little.

The next moment, the man hurriedly gathered the files and turned to leave the room.

"Hiyori, I'm going to a meeting!"

With that, he quickly disappeared through the doorway and, with a few steps of Shunpo, reached the sky above the Research and Development Institute.

Chapter 33: Kyōsuke Kuchiki, in High Demand

Seireitei, the First Division's main conference room!

Kisuke Urahara, having hurried over with Shunpo, opened the doors to the conference room.

He cheerfully raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, everyone's here!"

"You're all right on time!"

Every captain of the Gotei 13 was present in the conference room.

Even Jūshirō Ukitake, who was always taking sick leave, had come.

The eleven captains stood in two rows, facing one another.

At the head of the two rows stood the Captain-Commander, Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai.

He tapped the cane in his hand and spoke in a deep, commanding voice.

"Captain Urahara, you suddenly called this meeting. What is it you have to say?"

"Captain-Commander, don't be so impatient. An interesting story needs some buildup to make it interesting enough!"

Walking to his place, Kisuke Urahara waved the files in his hand and spoke with a smile.

"I trust you all know that a few days ago, sixth-year students from Shin'ō Academy were attacked by an Adjuchas during their Konsō training."

"Didn't every one of those brats come back alive?"

"What's there to talk about?"

Kenpachi Kiganjō, captain of the 11th Division, sounded extremely impatient.

"Kisuke Urahara, don't tell me you called us all here over something like that!"

"No, of course not."

Kisuke Urahara handed out the files he had prepared and continued.

"After investigating over the past few days, we can clearly see that, aside from the Reiatsu of student Kuchiki, student Ichimaru, and the other Soul Reapers, there were dozens of different samples at the scene."

"Apart from one Adjuchas, they were all Gillians."

"...What?"

Everyone couldn't help but freeze.

"Cough, cough! You mean student Kuchiki really took care of that many Gillians?"

"In those few short minutes?"

Jūshirō Ukitake's voice rose a few notches.

"Wasn't all that a joke? How could it be true?!"

"It's all in the reports. The data couldn't be clearer."

Kisuke Urahara shrugged.

"If you want to ask me how he did it, you'd be better off asking the captain of the Sixth Division."

At that, the others all turned their eyes to Kuchiki Ginrei.

He smiled kindly, his surprise and pride plain in his voice.

"Uh... Kyōsuke didn't say much about it either. He isn't the showy sort."

"Perhaps he used some fairly powerful Kidō."

"As you all know, he's very talented in that area."

...Was this a question of how talented he was at Kidō?!

At his words, the captains were all left speechless.

Those were dozens of Gillians! Even if you went on a rampage and unleashed your strongest attacks, it would still take some time to crush them all!

A few minutes, just a few minutes!

Slaughtering that many Gillians in the blink of an eye!

Was that something a Soul Reaper could do?

"...That's just fairly powerful?"

"It's already a bit absurd."

Shunsui Kyōraku murmured, looking somewhat dazed.

"In a few minutes, just a few minutes, he took care of that many Hollows."

"Which of us here has ever done something like that at his age?"

At those words, the captains fell silent.

To them, neither Gillians nor Adjuchas were difficult opponents to deal with.

But Kyōsuke Kuchiki had not only finished them off in a few minutes, he hadn't suffered so much as a scratch.

The Hollows had all been burned into nothingness, without even a scrap left behind.

Such terrifying methods...

Apart from Retsu Unohana and the Captain-Commander, shock appeared in the eyes of every captain at once.