The Captain Slaughter Plan Begins: The Death of the Third Division Captain

Time flew by.

Several years passed in the blink of an eye.

Ten Unohana had finally learned most of what he could of swordsmanship. It wasn't that he had mastered it, but that Retsu Unohana had taught him everything she needed to. After all, Retsu Unohana knew Ten Unohana was about to start his plan and would leave Soul Society once it began. So she had taught him everything she needed to.

During those years, the captain candidates who had graduated had also begun training for Bankai. And so, Ten Unohana prepared to set the captain slaughter plan in motion.

The night was cool as water.

Soul Society was as peaceful as ever, and the patrols went about their rounds as a matter of routine. Low-level Hollows had no minds, so they made a great deal of noise if they invaded, while high-level Hollows didn't come to Soul Society on a whim. Besides, even if they did come, foot soldiers like these wouldn't be able to detect them. As such, the patrols were more concerned with disputes within Soul Society.

But...

A figure streaked across the night sky, unnoticed by the patrol below.

At the Third Division barracks,

The Third Division Captain was a light sleeper, a habit forged through years of life-and-death struggles that he couldn't break. The slightest disturbance would wake him.

"Please wait a moment, Young Master Unohana. I'll fetch the captain right away."

"Please be quick."

The Third Division Captain had already woken upon hearing them. He got up and said, "There's no need to fetch me. I'm already awake." With that, he came out of his room.

Outside, Ten Unohana's eyes flickered as he said, "I'm sorry to come looking for you now, but you should go take a look. A Menos Grande has appeared around Kusajishi in Rukongai's District 79 and Zaraki in District 80. There weren't many people there, so no one was hurt, but you're still needed. After all, it's a Menos Grande."

The Third Division Captain suspected nothing. Tightening his grip on his Zanpakuto, he said, "There's no time to lose. Let's go now. Lead the way."

Ten Unohana gave a sinister smile behind him and followed. Everything seemed so natural that no one noticed anything amiss.

The only unpleasant thing was the Soul Reaper's muttering at the door just now: "You're a demon, worse than a Menos Grande." But Ten Unohana wasn't too concerned with such trivialities at the moment.

Rukongai, Kusajishi District in District 79, Zaraki District in District 80.

"Where's the Hollow?" the Third Division Captain asked in confusion, looking around as he sensed the somewhat familiar Reiatsu of a Hollow.

"Right here?! I am slaughter. Draw, Blade of Slaughter!" A strange voice rang out, sounding like a Hollow's roar mixed with a Soul Reaper's speech.

The Third Division Captain spun around.

But—

"Ugh..." The Third Division Captain stared at the Hollow before him, then looked down in shock. A Zanpakuto with a blood groove and deeply carved blood-colored patterns was lodged in his chest. He couldn't believe his own guess.

But the Third Division Captain soon realized something was wrong. His soul and Reiatsu were pouring into the Zanpakuto in his chest, completely beyond his control.

"Bankai!"

"It won't work, Third Division Captain."

The Third Division Captain saw that he couldn't use his Bankai because his strength was rapidly fading. He instantly leaped back, trying to pull his body free of the Zanpakuto.

Ten Unohana followed closely, trying to drive his Zanpakuto into the Third Division Captain's body, but the captain had moved first and managed to escape the blade. In that brief time, however, the Third Division Captain felt that Ten Unohana had drained more than half of everything from him.

Like an opium addict taking a hit, Ten Unohana drew a deep breath, feeling his Zanpakuto slowly channel everything it had just absorbed into him.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" the Third Division Captain asked weakly.

Ten Unohana had no interest in answering the question that had interrupted him, and brushed him off. "Guess..."

He had thought the Third Division Captain would leave it at that, but unexpectedly, the captain actually guessed. "You awakened your Zanpakuto a long time ago, didn't you?"

He didn't expect Ten Unohana to answer, and Ten Unohana wouldn't have answered anyway, so the Third Division Captain continued, "Before you became known by titles like Butcher and Slaughter Demon, you awakened your Zanpakuto. Then you discovered it could absorb everything from others and turn it into your own strength, so you began slaughtering people to grow stronger. But in the end, you found that slaughtering those weaklings did little to improve your strength, so you decided to kill me to grow stronger. Is that right?"

Ten Unohana didn't mind the Third Division Captain's attempt to stall. He needed time himself to absorb the pure energy his Zanpakuto was sending back to him. He nodded. "As expected of a captain who's been through the fires of war. You're almost entirely right."

"Almost entirely? Then you're saying I didn't get everything right?!" the Third Division Captain said in shock.

"Inhale—" "Exhale—"

Ten Unohana took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm finished. What about whatever you were preparing?" As he spoke, Ten Unohana raised his already released Zanpakuto and used Shunpo to close in on the Third Division Captain, laughing loudly as he lifted the blade high—

"Bakudo #77: Tenteikura!" The Third Division Captain finally struck back. But instead of trying to save his own life, he was preparing to inform Soul Society of Ten Unohana's betrayal and his own earlier guess, so that the other captains wouldn't suffer the same fate. But—

"What?! This is... a Space-Time Barrier!!"

Ten Unohana drove his Zanpakuto into the Third Division Captain's body. "That's right. So all your preparations just now were wasted. Goodbye... Third Division Captain."

The Third Division Captain was furious and wanted to resist, but Ten Unohana's Zanpakuto had drained him of the means to fight back. And so, a Soul Society captain vanished from this world completely...

Ten Unohana gazed at the Third Division Captain as he faded into nothingness. He took a deep breath, then shook the blood from his Zanpakuto and sealed it. "That's one," he murmured. "One more, and I'll have enough Reiatsu for Bankai."

Ten Unohana was about to leave the Space-Time Barrier, planning to lure the captains out and kill them one by one over the next few days.

But,

Things didn't go according to plan. As soon as Ten Unohana stepped outside, he saw a Tenth Division member staring blankly at him. Shocked to see Ten Unohana come out from inside, the man said, "Young Master Unohana? Why are you here? And you came out of there—a Space-Time Barrier is a forbidden technique!"

Ten Unohana said coldly, "Did you send word about what's happening here?"

"Well, Young Master Unohana, as you know, Soul Society has expressly forbidden the use of Space-Time Barriers. It's my duty, so..."

Ten Unohana nodded in understanding. "So you did send word about what's happening here?"

Ignoring the Tenth Division member's embarrassed smile, he looked into the distance and smiled coldly.

Boom! Ten Unohana kicked the division member into the Space-Time Barrier. "Here he comes!" he said bloodthirstily.

With that, he entered the Space-Time Barrier as well.

Inside the Space-Time Barrier,

Ten Unohana slowly drew his Zanpakuto.

"Y-you, what are you doing? You can't kill me. I've already sent word. The captain will be here soon."

Ten Unohana was somewhat angry. He had thought he could do as he had with the Third Division Captain, taking advantage of the other captains' lack of guard against him to quickly drive his Zanpakuto into their bodies. Once his Zanpakuto entered an opponent's body, everything would be over.

But the division member before him had thrown the rest of his plan into disarray. Though Ten Unohana knew the matter would inevitably come to light, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

But the Tenth Division Captain is still mine, Ten Unohana thought. Now, will you come in, Tenth Division Captain?

Ten Unohana raised his Zanpakuto high...

"Don't you dare!" The Tenth Division Captain's voice rang out, and a figure rushed into the Space-Time Barrier. But Ten Unohana's Zanpakuto still came slashing down.

The Tenth Division Captain was too late to save him directly, so he attacked Ten Unohana to force him to break off. If Ten Unohana continued his attack, he would receive a fatal wound.

Strangely, however, Ten Unohana paid no mind to the attack behind him and simply brought his Zanpakuto down hard. His blade cut through the Tenth Division member's desperate defense and killed him.

"Roar! Ten Unohana, I don't care what your reason is. I'll kill you today! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because Retsu Unohana is behind you!" the Tenth Division Captain shouted, striking even harder.

"Beguiling relic, bloom! Poppy Scythe..."

A long-handled scythe surrounded by black mist and flickering with blood-red light appeared behind Ten Unohana, wrapped in a silver chain. It was the Poppy Scythe, one of Ten Unohana's Dual Shikai.

The Tenth Division Captain's attack arrived at that moment, and he shouted, "Die!"

Without looking back, Ten Unohana held his Zanpakuto in a reverse grip with both hands.

"I am slaughter. Draw, Blade of Slaughter!!!"

The Blade of Slaughter, one of his Dual Shikai.

Blood-colored carved patterns and a blood groove quickly appeared on the Zanpakuto in Ten Unohana's hands, adding an air of slaughter to the already beautiful form of the Tang-style blade.

Ten Unohana gripped his Zanpakuto tightly, its tip pointed toward himself. He smiled bloodthirstily and thought, It's over!

Shing— A blade sliced into flesh.

Ten Unohana's Blade of Slaughter passed through his own body and stabbed into the Tenth Division Captain. At the same time, the Tenth Division Captain's Zanpakuto pierced Ten Unohana's body as well.

Ten Unohana didn't even look at the Tenth Division Captain's Zanpakuto or his own, the two blades in his body. He turned his head with a smile.

"What's this?" the Tenth Division Captain asked in confusion, staring at the Zanpakuto in his body.

Ten Unohana was just about to answer when,

Suddenly,

A blade tip appeared out of thin air before Ten Unohana's eyes and thrust rapidly toward him!!

Ten Unohana spun around quickly, using his other hand to push aside the Zanpakuto the Tenth Division Captain had thrust into his body.

The Tenth Division Captain's Zanpakuto was forced out of Ten Unohana's body. At the same time, Ten Unohana's body twisted strangely as he turned around. As though his body were an illusion, he disregarded the blade piercing him, and the Zanpakuto passed easily through him.

Then Ten Unohana drove the Blade of Slaughter, still lodged in the Tenth Division Captain, hard into his body once more.

Immediately afterward, the silver chain connecting the Blade of Slaughter and the Poppy Scythe suddenly shortened, pulling the Poppy Scythe through Ten Unohana's body. Ten Unohana released the Blade of Slaughter embedded in the Tenth Division Captain and caught the Poppy Scythe as it passed through him...

Throughout all this, Ten Unohana's body seemed not to exist, as though it were merely a phantom.