Just a few days after returning to Soul Society, Jun and his companion were summoned to Kyōraku's house.
"Brother Shunsui ~ What happened?"
"You weren't present for that incident that happened more than a year ago in the World of the Living, were you?"
"No," he lied without batting an eye, his expression gradually turning serious. "Could it be something serious? That Vasto Lorde?"
"It's not Vasto Lorde," Shunsui Kyōraku shook his head, he hadn't doubted Jun either, "But those remnants of Spiritual Power. I saw in the report that you informed the Second Division that there were many remnants of Spiritual Power there, right?"
"Yes," he feigned ignorance, "It's just some Spiritual Power, how could it be more serious Vasto Lorde? Is there some secret behind it?"
Isuzu watched in amazement as her lover delivered his superb acting, then mimicked his curious expression. Shunsui Kyōraku looked on with utter exasperation at the young couple.
"Aren't you two scared at all?"
"Why are you afraid? We haven't done anything wrong."
Isuzu was immune to Jun's thick skin, but Jun herself was even more indifferent. She was telling the truth and truly had a clear conscience, although their perspectives on having a clear conscience differed.
Shunsui Kyōraku still looked admiring, "Hmm, as long as you have a clear conscience, that's fine. Since you're curious, it seems you won't leave even if I don't tell you. You know what to do."
"Hey! I absolutely won't tell a fourth person outside of this place."
Hi! I'm the Junichi.
So the couple heard the true story from Kyōraku. Back then, Kyōraku was still a student when the experiment was conducted. However, the Shin'ō Academy was a bit different back then than it is now. Because Kyōraku was an upper-class noble, he could go home at any time.
The selection of souls for the research was extensive, spanning from Rukongai to the Gotei 13. A number of these souls were also captured, including some students from the Shin'ō Academy, and then the incident occurred.
This was arguably the biggest scandal in Soul Society at the time, and even into the story's time, the most humiliating moment for the Central 46. They then urgently dispatched a massive number of Soul Reaper to the World of the Living to hunt them down, reportedly killing nearly 20,000 people.
"Such a large scale!?" Chun was completely dumbfounded.
"Ah, the Spiritual Power Explosion at that time instantly turned many towns in the World of the Living into that state, resulting in many legends of immortality in the World of the Living now."
"That's amazing!"
"What you found back then was probably a remnant of these people. They hid in the mountains of the Shikoku region, far from the world. No wonder they couldn't be found. The Central 46 must be relieved that they were attacked by Vasto Lorde. If anyone calls you in for questioning again in the future, remember to be careful what you say."
"We understand, after all, we don't know anything."
Jun smiled nonchalantly, and Isuzu nodded in agreement. Kyōraku nodded as well. "That puts my mind at ease. The reason I told you all this was to let you know the reason, so you wouldn't say anything ambiguous or misleading. Just stay out of this, especially you! Jun!"
"Hey! I know I was wrong, Shunsui. If anyone asks me about this again, I'll pretend I don't know anything about it."
That would be best.
Speaking of Soul Society, the Central 46 are really idle. Shunsui Kyōraku's warning was very timely; the young couple were indeed summoned to the Second Division for questioning. In the end, they managed to get away with it by feigning ignorance.
Thus, the Bount incident came to an end. Jun wasn't qualified enough to examine the confidential documents related to this matter, but Kyōraku was. Later, the three of them communicated again, and Kyōraku told Jun that the Bount, who were now Undead, were now treated as if they were all dead.
Chun, who had been somewhat worried, finally breathed a sigh of relief; the safety of those Undead was no longer a concern.
Life in Soul Society remained unchanged, untouched for millennia. Over thirty years passed in a flash. The Fourth Seat of the Tenth Division, Mr. Mizunami, who had fought Jun during their graduation exams, was promoted to the First Division after being questioned by the First Division due to his increased understanding. Jun, therefore, was promoted to the Fifth Seat the Tenth Division.
Then something very significant happened, but unfortunately Chun wasn't there.
Because of the wars in the World of the Living, when Chun went to deal with the Undead thirty years ago, it was already the beginning of the Sengoku period in Japan. Thirty years later, the middle of the Japan period had already passed.
This isn't a historical record; the Sengoku period, as Jun is referring to, begins with Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. Over thirty years later, Nobunaga Oda was already dead. During the Honnōji Incident, Jun personally witnessed Nobunaga Oda being burned to death, and then saw for the first time the Gates of Hell open, with Nobunaga Oda being sucked in.
This is the first time I've ever seen the Gates of Hell. It has nothing to do with Soul Society, haha. The only connection is that too many people have died in the World of the Living; the number of Rukongai) has skyrocketed in the last few decades, and there are now eighty-four.
Because the growth rate was too rapid, the Soul Society adopted a very crude management method: those who caused trouble were thrown into the lower-ranked Rukongai, while the obedient ones who were bullied were allowed to be moved to the higher- Rukongai if they were spotted by Soul Reaper patrols and had no prior record.
This way, the larger the numbers, the more chaotic things become, and it's intentionally designed to be chaotic. Fight if you want, fight to the death! Soul Reaper doesn't care.
There's an old saying that those who can cause trouble are also capable of getting things done. These lower-ranked Rukongai have a feel of the previous era; they're full of incredibly arrogant and domineering people, the kind who think they're the most important person in the world. And indeed, there are some truly talented individuals among them.
Then he unleashed his Spiritual Power and achieved self-realization of his Reishi Sense, which is all quite normal. Under such circumstances, it's not impossible for one or two minor geniuses to emerge. Therefore, it's not unacceptable that a newly recruited Soul Reaper in the Third Division was killed!
The Third Division is furious, you know? Their own member died in Rukongai! Actually, they're not entirely sure if he died in Rukongai, but the Tenth Division hasn't missed a Hollow for many years, and no particularly lucky Hollow has directly descended upon Rukongai. There are no recorded sightings of Hollows, but the person is gone.
What happened?! Is this some kind of ghost story?! A new member joined the team and went to Hueco Mundo using Space Kidō Kido? Who the hell would believe that?
Ultimately, the 11th Division provided the answer, because this had happened before within the 11th Division. There was an instance where 11th Division member, before being Soul Reaper, killed a newly recruited Soul Reaper, was subsequently discovered, and became a member of the 11th Division.
Then look at the chaos in Rukongai now, and the matter is settled. The person is definitely dead, and it's basically confirmed that they died in Rukongai. But there's nothing you can do; you can't just slaughter the entire Rukongai, can you? Besides, you're outmatched. You're a graduated Soul Reaper, and you get killed by someone who never went to school—aren't you ashamed?!
So this whole thing is actually meaningless. What is meaningful then? Let's continue reading.
One day, Retsu Unohana, the Fourth Division Captain, personally went to patrol Rukongai. Our Unohana is compassionate and often goes to Rukongai to heal the spirits. Some spirits also get sick, such as Jūshirō Ukitake, and later Byakuya's wife. These things happen quite often.
Then, while on patrol, Unohana suddenly sensed a powerful Reiatsu. Such a burst of Reiatsu was no joke. Unohana initially thought it was a Soul Reaper encountering a Hollow, but after investigating, she found no Hollow. Puzzled, Unohana went to investigate further.
What she saw was a mountain of corpses, hundreds of bodies piled up to a height of nearly three meters. At the summit sat a young man, holding a long knife embedded in the mountain of corpses, the protruding part of which was about a meter long.
From then on, there are two versions of the story. Let's ignore the records of those idiotic eyewitnesses and speculate on what Unohana was thinking. People who are not familiar with Unohana would definitely think that Unohana would be particularly disgusted after seeing the mountain of corpses. But those of us who are familiar with Unohana know that she was once the most evil Soul Society!
So when Unohana saw that mountain of corpses, her first feeling was one of familiarity. It was a kind of emotion that came from the depths of her soul. She never expected that after so many years, the Soul Society would still have someone who could rival her, Unohana Yachiru!
Retsu Unohana Unohana Yachiru felt a soul-deep connection with that boy, and in that instant, she was captivated. Foolishly, she leaned closer, wanting to touch him, but her long-held compassion had made her forget how dangerous she had once been.
The long sword embedded in the mountain of corpses pierced below her collarbone. This was her instinct as the first Kenpachi, the most evil person in Soul Society. She dodged the blade aimed at her heart, but not completely.
On the other hand, this strike awakened another side of her, the one who was once the most evil in Soul Society. Her Zanpakuto instantly drew from its sheath, intending to cut the attacker in two, but it only managed to graze the attacker's face.
The boy covered his face with his hands, wiping away the blood. He stuck out his tongue, just enough to lick his own blood, and a twisted smile appeared on his face as he swallowed it all.
Unohana touched her wound, unable to believe it—this was the only wound on Retsu Unohana's body! Back then, when she faced the strongest in Soul Society, she was only defeated, without a single scratch!
Then the boy knelt down. Powerful Reiatsu doesn't reason; no matter how strong a boy is, he's still just a boy. Trying to compete in Reiatsu with a super-veteran captain who has accumulated Spiritual Pool for over a thousand years is futile. Besides, this was only the second match; his opponents from the first battle were already beneath him.
The boy didn't die. It was a rare opportunity for Unohana to encounter someone like him; how could she bear to kill him? Later, members of the Third Division Fifth Division Fifth Divisions arrived at the border between their patrols. They saw the compassionate Captain Unohana healing the berserk boy. She was truly an angel.
The official record states that Unohana once again demonstrated compassion, adding another chapter to the record of the Soul Society's first angel. The unofficial record, however, details the story of an unnamed, dangerous boy who, because he was discovered in Rukongai No. 80, 'Zaraki,' was named Zaraki.
This record wasn't very secret; Chun could easily access it. So, when Chun saw it, who could imagine the regret Chun felt?
"What did I do that day? I... I..." Chun tapped his forehead vigorously. "I went drinking with Isshin that day, right? Damn it!! I was in the South that day, right? Damn it!! Ah~ Drinking leads to trouble!"
He lay on the tatami mat, his whole body turning ashen.
After a while, Chun rolled over. "That's good. If I had been there, these two probably wouldn't have fought. Speaking of which, I never noticed before because I didn't see her often. Unohana used to change her hairstyle all the time. I thought women all loved to look good, unlike the original work where everyone had the same hairstyle for easier drawing. I didn't realize it was because of this. There's a scar over there."
"Wasn't it supposed to be healed soon? Why wasn't the scar removed? Kenpachi Zaraki, he still has that scar on his face, wow! An affair spanning over a thousand years!? And he still died by Zaraki in the end, damn it! Have I discovered the truth!?"
"Hahaha, what a ridiculous truth! Can't my brain work for once?!"
(The first encounter between Kenpachi Zaraki and Retsu Unohana has been reimagined)
In the original work, we can see that when Zaraki was discovered, Unohana was still the captain of the First Division. The 11th Division had changed captains eleven times in a thousand years, with eleven generations of Kenpachi, meaning each generation averaged less than a hundred years.
Admittedly, Sōya Azashiro was investigated and disciplined after only a few years in office. If we average out the other Kenpachis, each served for about a hundred years, Zaraki had already served for over a hundred years during the original story.
Since Zaraki was born in Rukongai and appeared to be in his teens when he arrived, let's assume he was 500 years old in the original story. Therefore, Zaraki had spent over 400 years in Soul Society.
According to the original setting, more than 400 years before the start of the original work, Unohana was the first Kenpachi, Zaraki than 100 years ago. The nine Kenpachi in between lived for a total of 300 years.
That's so damn tragic!! ㄟ(◇)ㄏ
Kenpachi's age was raised to eight hundred years old. Eight hundred years ago, he could have stabbed Unohana with a single sword strike, and he only became a captain seven hundred years later. Hah, Zaraki, could you be any more useless?
Therefore, they abandoned the original setting and created a second-generation encounter storyline.
The original work also mentions that the two engaged in a fierce battle after meeting, and in the end, Unohana gave Zaraki blow. Haha, the worst Soul Society and a brat got into a fierce battle!?
One theory suggests that this caused Zaraki to awaken the ability to suppress his fighting power when fighting opponents.