Renji didn't return all day, but thankfully the Radar could pinpoint Renji location, and they discovered he'd wandered into the city center. Ichigo and Rukia decided to leave him alone.
Only Rukia and Ichigo have Radar, and Uryū has it too; none of the other Soul Reaper in Soul Society do.
In the original work, the Soul Reaper who arrived this time were originally supposed to arrive a little later, but Hirako managed to leak some information to Soul Society through Urahara, so Soul Society sent these Shinigami first.
In the original work Rangiku and Tōshirō also appeared, but in this timeline, Jun replaced Little Lion twenty years ago and has now betrayed the group with Aizen. Therefore, Little Lion is now the captain of the Tenth Division, Rangiku is the Vice-Captain. No problem.
The Tenth Division isn't exactly in turmoil, because the entire Soul Society is in a state of flux right now. Don't forget, Jun is the Hollow-Pacifying King of Soul Society, and the Expedition force has over seven hundred people.
Attacking the Captain-Commander directly is indeed excessive, but what does it matter who the Captain-Commander is among the Expedition's seven hundred-plus members? Are they untouchable? Why did Commander Shimizu attack the Captain-Commander? Has the Seireitei been unfair to Commander Shimizu?
In short, the Expedition force's stance was mostly pure. Why? Because many members of the Expedition had never returned after setting out, Soul Society no longer wanted them.
In fact, when Chun was the leader of the Expedition, he proposed a rotation of personnel, that is, to have the Gotei 13 and the Expedition team exchange personnel once every few decades, and then send more or more personnel to the Expedition team, whatever the reason, but this proposal was rejected.
Few members of the Expedition returned after setting out, which was very bad news for the Expedition. In the original work, the Expedition was truly just a single unit, but Jun had managed to build a large army of over seven hundred people.
In Jun's eyes, most of Soul Society's actions were incredibly idiotic. Jun had given Soul Society chances, but they hadn't cherished them. Jun wasn't responsible for the final consequences.
The Expedition force was already dissatisfied with Soul Society, and now that they've betrayed them, that discontent has erupted. Soul Society doesn't have much energy left to deal with the World of the Living; they're currently overwhelmed by the Expedition force's situation.
In fact, the reason why the Expedition force was not accepted by Soul Society was partly due to Jun's interference. The Expedition force's fighting style was very different from that of Soul Society. Jun's management of the Expedition force was entirely militarized, completely different from the Soul Society's philosophy of prioritizing brute force.
The Expedition force comprises several teams, including Scout Squad, Formation Squad, Long-Range Kidō Squad, Interception Squad, Protection Squad, Rescue Squad, Elite Assault Squad, and Destructive Strike Squad.
Among these teams, the Scout Squad were responsible for intelligence gathering.
The Formation Squad is a close-combat spear formation, purely for those with less talent to practice extending their Blade Body Spiritual Power. The longest spears can reach seven meters, with an average of four to five meters, allowing them to form a spear square formation for array combat. Ordinary Hollows are like a pack of wild beasts; facing such an array, no matter how many come, they will die. There has been a record of four hundred Formation Squad killing tens of thousands of Hollows.
The Long-Range Kidō Squad, also known as the archer phalanx in warfare, is a standard battlefield formation used in conjunction with Formation Squad. It's typically composed of players with decent Kidō skills but not particularly high talent.
As you can see from this, most of the people who joined the Expedition were not particularly talented; they were people abandoned by Soul Society. But ultimately, they were given meaning in their lives and powerful resources.
This Interception Squad, not a sniper team. It consists of members of the Kidō Corps and those with exceptional Kidō talent from various squads. Once you join the Expedition, there's no distinction between squads and Kidō Corps; everyone is part of the Expedition family. Their strength lies in using Bakudō to block and control large numbers of enemies.
The Protection Squad is comprised of individuals with decent Spiritual Pool talent but mediocre other talents. They utilize defensive Bakudō spells to form a shield formation, which can act as a buffer against powerful single targets, such as Adjuchas- class Vasto Lorde- class enemies, where the mortality rate is quite high.
There's not much to say about the Rescue Squad; they'll Kaido to the Rescue Squad when they return, and they're also equipped with some tough combatants.
The Elite Assault Squad consists of talented individuals abandoned by Soul Society due to their poor backgrounds. Jun recruited and trained them again, making them high-level combatants capable of facing Menos Grande. They are the strongest unit in the Expedition, with some members possessing combat power comparable to a squad Vice-Captain. They are also among the two groups most loyal to Jun.
The Destructive Strike Squad, like the group mentioned above, possesses a talent for the Kidō. They are Chun's secret weapon, having been taught many of the extremely destructive Kidō developed by Chun. Some of these Kidō are not meant for individual use; they require dozens of people to execute together. Their destructive power is undeniable. This is the second group most loyal to Chun.
Therefore, the strongest members of the Expedition were utterly loyal to Chun, because Chun had shown them kindness and given them a second chance, and Chun had also protected the others. They all knew they were a group that had been abandoned.
Furthermore, the complete overhaul of the combat system has made Soul Society extremely wary, especially the Captain-Commander. This military-style combat method truly existed before the First Thousand-Year War; it's the Captain-Commander's nightmare. As long as they don't disappear, the Gotei 13 won't appear. Therefore, naturally, they won't allow this form to reappear in Soul Society.
Furthermore, since the chosen successor, Shūsuke Amagai, already harbors a grudge against the Captain-Commander, he is absolutely unwilling to compromise with Soul Society despite possessing such immense power. Even if his subordinates don't cause trouble, he'll still stir up trouble.
However, both sides are currently exercising restraint. The Expedition team has also learned about Aizen and the existence of the Arrancar. After all, the Expedition team and Las Noches are practically neighbors, and they are separated from Soul Society by the Dangai.
Therefore, due to Aizen's appearance, a delicate balance has emerged among the three parties. The Soul Society is on high alert, making it difficult for them to send people from the World of the Living. Their current objective is to protect Ichigo Kurosaki, so they don't need so many people.
Aside from Jun, no one knew Aizen's true intentions. Aizen had two purposes in Karakura Town: the first was the creation of the Oken, and the second was Orihime Inoue.
Yes, Orihime is one of Aizen's goals, and a very important one at that! Orihime serves only one purpose for Aizen: to protect him Aizen.
Aizen still need protection? The answer is yes, but not to protect him from harm; that's not a concern yet. What Aizen is worried about is the Hōgyoku. Despite researching the Aizen Hōgyoku so many years, he doesn't actually understand it very well.
Urahara and Aizen repeatedly stated that the Hōgyoku was a wish-granting device, but is it truly a wish-granting device? Of course not! If it were, wouldn't Aizen have simply wished to become a god? Why go through all this trouble?
Therefore, the Hōgyoku is less of a wish-granting device and more of a catalyst—a catalyst containing immense power that works on any species, whether Soul Reaper or Hollows.
Therefore, Aizen continued to evolve after fusing with the Hōgyoku, but Aizen still doesn't know what the fused Hōgyoku actually looks like. In fact, Aizen never considered fusing with the Hōgyoku if he could.
During the final stages, the Hōgyoku was always embedded in Aizen's chest, its purpose being a safety net. The meaning of this safety net was simple: if success could be achieved without activating the safety net, then it wouldn't be activated; otherwise, it would have to be activated.
Ultimately, it didn't work. Isshin Kurosaki's appearance far exceeded Aizen's plans. He hadn't expected Isshin Kurosaki to be so powerful. Furthermore, the combined pressure from the others attacking him, along with the ever-present threat of Gin Ichimaru, made things even more difficult.
In the end, Aizen really overplayed his hand, and this was the bitter consequence of his arrogance—he deserved it.
So how did Aizen determine that the Hōgyoku could be used as a safety net? This brings us to Orihime. When Orihime and taken to Las Noches, Aizen would often take her away to be alone. What did Aizen make Orihime do? Certainly not something that would lead to a loss, but rather, he was testing the Hōgyoku.
Orihime's power, the Sōten Kisshun, can resist the development of things, forcing them back to their initial state. To some extent, it can even resist death, and even resist the gods.
Orihime could resist the power of the Hōgyoku. Aizen used Orihime's power during this testing phase to finally reach the first stage of evolution. Aizen's techniques during the first stage of evolution were all methodical, but he did not expect that he would be suppressed at this stage.
Another half month has passed.
In Karakura Town now, the number of failed Half-Arrancar appearances is gradually increasing, Ichigo is spending less and less time at school each day, running around dealing with these issues.
Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika were in a similar situation, and then they ran into the Visoreds, but the two groups...
Hirako's group and Kensei Muguruma's other group, however, Kensei Muguruma was actually only four people.
It was precisely because of the Visoreds that the Soul Reaper from Soul Society had enough power to eliminate the Arrancars; otherwise, with only one-fifth of their power, they would have been far too exhausted.
But as things progressed, starting with the appearance of the first humanoid Arrancar, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. If Kensei Muguruma hadn't intervened in time, Ikkaku would have been killed on the spot.
The Soul Society finally realized the gravity of the situation and recognized the existence of the Visoreds. However, unlike the original story, it wasn't Tōshirō who appeared, but Byakuya himself who appeared in the World of the Living.
While Rukia and Ichigo were chasing a half-humanoid Arrancar, pink petals Arrancar into a sieve.
"Ah, brother-in-law!"
Yo~ Byakuya ~
Byakuya nodded. "It's been a while, Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Haha, yeah, you seem to have gotten a bit stronger," Ichigo particularly confident now. Putting aside his inherent strength, his training these past few days had yielded good results. While his growth wasn't as rapid as when his threshold was lower, it was still a genius-level increase. Hirako himself admitted that he wasn't as good as...
So now Ichigo feels he is extremely strong, with immense potential. For Rukia's sake, he wants to defeat Aizen and bring Rukia to the World of the Living to spend her life with him. Ichigo isn't truly stupid; he just didn't need to use his brain before, but now that he can, he's quite intelligent.
Byakuya looked at Ichigo and nodded, "I have become stronger, but you seem to have become even stronger."
Haha, you figured it out!
Byakuya was speechless. He didn't get along with Ichigo much to begin with and disliked Ichigo's personality, so he didn't say anything. But then Ichigo suddenly hugged Rukia gasped and blushed deeply.
Ichigo laughed and said, "Byakuya, I want to marry Rukia, but she says she needs your permission first."
Byakuya hadn't reacted since Ichigo hugged Rukia, because it was incredibly bold. He initially wanted to object, but then he thought of himself Hisana Byakuya.
"As long as you like each other, I'll agree, but! Your love will inevitably be hindered by the Soul Society, you know that? Many people will try every means to stop you!"
Rukia tried to speak, but Ichigo held her even tighter, his tone quite arrogant.
"I will silence those who oppose me, as long as I am strong enough! Isn't that the rule of Soul Society?"
"Yes!" Byakuya nodded. "It's good that you can see this clearly."