Chun quickly returned to Hueco Mundo. He had been in the World of the Living realm for less than an hour in total. Currently, among all the teams exploring Hueco Mundo, only Chun's team has the most time and resources.
As Ge Ze Li's humanity grows, the things she can do become more and more numerous. This allows her to be brought back to help catalyze the development of potential Vasto Lorde.
On her second trip back, she received news from Zegrod that Ichigo had completed World of the Living Arrancar training. Junichi, upon receiving this news, rushed to the World of the Living and, sure enough, Ichigo had successfully fused—a huge surprise!
After settling things off with Ichigo, Jun returned. The exploration of the Bottomless Abyss is now progressing well; Jun's team alone has already discovered two spatial connection points, a promising development.
Although neither of these spaces is exactly a paradise of birdsong and fragrant flowers—one is named Winter Riverbank, and the other is named Asura Battlefield —the discovery of a new world is always a good thing.
Therefore, Jun's main task and energy are still Hueco Mundo. He said he would explore for three months, and that means he will explore for three months. Unless something major happens, as long as Aizen doesn't appear, it has nothing to do with Jun.
"That Kakyō is Jun Shimizu's disciple, and also the most progressive woman in Soul Society. Hirako said is exactly what happened."
The next day at noon, Ichigo and Uryū continued their conversation on the rooftop, and Ichigo told Uryū about the Soul Society secrets he had heard the previous night.
Uryū is a true young master from a highly educated family, excelling in both character and academics, a stark contrast to Ichigo. Hearing this story, he pushed up his glasses.
"Wow, Jun Shimizu is amazing. So the Soul Society really is a place of evil. I knew there wasn't a single good Soul Reaper."
"Is it because Quincy and Soul Reaper are enemies? Does that have anything to do with it!?"
"Why not? We Quincy up with the times, but the Soul Reaper don't."
"Well, what does it matter to me what the Soul Reaper does? Whatever~"
Uryū didn't say anything, and the two started eating their bento boxes, neither of them reacting much to what Ichigo had said.
This is where the power of language comes in. Before, Ichigo would never have said this. If anyone said the Soul Society was bad, he would have argued vehemently, perhaps even fighting with them. But now, he subjectively believes the Soul Society isn't a good place.
With this attitude, Ichigo will never place Soul Society in a particularly high position again, nor will he consider it a place he must protect.
After the two finished eating, Uryū took out his phone and glanced at it. "Wow! Another Hollow has appeared. This Reiatsu is B-rank."
"B-rank isn't anything special," Ichigo, pulling out his phone. "Oh, someone's nearby. Haha, got rid of them."
"The Visored is really something, I'm talking about the Eleven side, but the four-member side is probably doing the same thing too, right?"
Oh? Really?
"Look," Uryū drew a line on the map, cutting off a small area, "I've been keeping an eye on the Hollows these past few days, so I can see that the Eleven Visored Faction never crossed this line, and this area was suddenly wiped out by the reaction that occurred here."
"Wow! Uryū, you're really something!" Ichigo was just watching the show, but if a pure-blooded Undead or a member of Fullbring Organization saw the place where Uryū had transformed, they would know that it was the place where the Visoreds used to live—that abandoned building that had never been moved.
This topic wasn't very interesting, so Uryū suddenly asked, "Given the state of Soul Society now, what are your plans for Rukia?"
Ichigo stood up and looked down at the playground through the net. "I want her to come to the World of the Living and spend her life with me. This is my only wish. I want to marry her!"
Suddenly, there was a noise at the top of the stairs. Ichigo went over and saw Rukia standing there, her face flushed red. Behind Rukia Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika.
Ikkaku Madarame, always eager for chaos, exclaimed, "What? I think I heard something incredible!"
Rukia blushed even more and Ichigo greeted Ichigo, "Ichigo ~"
Ichigo looked at the group and suddenly laughed, "What's going on? How come you all suddenly appeared in the World of the Living? And your outfits... pfft~"
However, Renji suddenly slammed his hand on the wall, "Hey! What did you just say!? Don't change the subject, you bastard!"
"Huh?" Ichigo blinked. "What do you mean by changing the subject? I said I like Rukia and I want to marry her, and that has nothing to do with why I asked you guys why you're here."
Renji suddenly rushed in front of Ichigo, grabbed him by the Ichigo, and shouted, "What the hell are you talking about!?"
"A joke?" Ichigo grabbed Renji's arm, and the two began to wrestle. "When did I joke?"
"You're a human! What makes you think you can like Rukia!?"
"I am the Substitute Soul Reaper!"
"Pah! Substitute Soul Reaper? That thing is nothing but a joke in Soul Society! You actually took it seriously?"
"Renji!!"
Renji's words were extremely offensive, and Ichigo and Kūgo Ginjō are fundamentally different. Ichigo, Ginjo is nothing but trash.
Ichigo pulled out his Substitute Soul Reaper Badge and fiddled with it. "I don't care if this thing works or not, but what does it have to do with my feelings for Rukia? You've spouted a bunch of nonsense. You think you can get together with Rukia just because you've stopped me from being with Rukia?"
What are you saying?
However, Ichigo suddenly grabbed Rukia's hand and walked past them, saying, "Let's go~, class is about to start."
"You little brat, trying to run away!?"
Ichigo was holding Rukia at the corner of the stairs, with Renji above them. Ichigo looked at Renji's contorted face, his displeasure reaching its peak.
If this were the original Ichigo, he would have just had a little tiff with Renji and moved on, and he wouldn't have confessed to Rukia at all, nor would he have been so assertive. This guy is like an idiot.
However, Ichigo is currently unable to suppress his anger. At this point in time, his relationship with Renji is just so-so. They have similar tempers, but what does it matter to you who I like?
Ichigo swallowed the Mod Soul as he spoke, "What exactly are you trying to say? Let's get this straight. Class isn't important, Mod Soul, you can go now."
Ichigo's Mod Soul naturally went to class, Uryū was quite annoyed. He had to go to class; he didn't have Mod Soul, so he could only say, "Ichigo, calm down, I'm leaving now."
Rukia also sent her Mod Soul to class. The Soul Reaper, seeing this, thought, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Several Soul Reaper arrived on the rooftop once again. Ichigo was still holding Rukia, Renji, seeing this, exclaimed in dismay, "How long are you two going to keep doing this!?"
"Ugh, how ugly!" Yumichika suddenly said.
"What did you say!?"
"Are you a mad dog?!"
Ikkaku was displeased; Renji was like a dog, biting anyone he saw. However, Renji didn't realize the problem. That's just who he is. So what if he offends someone? He'll fight! Who's afraid of who?
Ichigo, Ichigo took Rukia's hand and said, "It seems there's nothing more for us to do. Let's go back."
"That Ichigo ~", Rukia was quite Shinren, but her mind was a mess right now, and she had no opinion of her own, so she was pulled away by Ichigo, feeling a little sweet inside.
However, Renji was most concerned about the two of them, and immediately drew his sword, shouting, "Stop right there! Where do you think you're going!?"
"What do you mean?"
"Get away from Rukia!"
"I'm going to marry her! Are you deaf?! Or are you out of your mind? Can't you understand Japanese?!"
"You're just a living person!"
"I don't need this body anymore! What does it matter to you if I become Soul Reaper in Soul Society? I brought Rukia to the World of the Living, and I'll live with her Gigai for the rest of my life. What's wrong with me going to Soul Society after I die!? You have a problem with that!?"
"F*** you! The Soul Society will kill you!"
"Last time Soul Society tried to kill Rukia! I'll tear your Soul Society apart!"
"What are you going to do with this?! I'm going to take you apart right now!"
"Pfft," Ichigo couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Are you serious? I took on Byakuya Kuchiki head-on, and you, a guy who's not even Vice-Captain, are going to tear me apart?"
Don't underestimate people!
"Then let's find another place to fight. I won't underestimate you."
"Let's go!"
"Walk!"
The two left the school one after the other. Rukia was about to chase after them when Yumichika stopped her.
"The two of them"
"There's nothing to see. Even if he went all out, he might not be a match for Ichigo Kurosaki, let alone the fact that we're currently restraining our power."
"Oh right," Rukia remembered that they were only at one-fifth of their power, and immediately stopped worrying. However, the problem was that Ichigo's power was one hundred percent, so what was Rukia really relieved about? Was it that she was confident Ichigo would win? Or that Shinren would lose? It seemed like there was no difference... My heart goes out to Renji 0.1 seconds.
The process and outcome of the battle are no longer meaningful. With Ichigo's current strength, he's almost reached his innate threshold, and even Byakuya wouldn't be a match for him.
In the original work, Ichigo's abilities were never fully developed; everyone made Ichigo wary of his Hollow powers. Therefore, even at the very end, about half of Ichigo's power was sealed away.
In this timeline, Ichigo, whose fate was clearly orchestrated, has already obtained a portion of the Hollow's power, and his ability development has reached its limit. Ichigo's current strength is approaching that of Gin Ichimaru.
And Renji, haha, is the youngest of the youngest, the youngest of the youngest.
Ichigo quickly returned to his classroom, the whole process taking less than five minutes, mostly spent traveling. Along the way, he even managed to kill a trash Arrancar.
"I'm back, no big deal."
Ichigo and Rukia exchanged a smile.
However, Ichigo didn't notice that just a few kilometers away, a pair of emerald green eyes were already fixed on him.