As time went by, five years passed in the blink of an eye, and the name of 'Nangong Kenpachi' began to resound Rukongai. Many trash came to challenge him, but Zero never encountered anyone who required him to swing his third sword.
It was another sunny and breezy day, but in the dark corners of the Seireitei, unspeakable and sordid affairs were taking place.
Zero was also summoned to Yama-jii Shan's office. At this time, besides Yama-jii, there were three other people present: his three disciples Kyōraku and Ukitake, and Kisaragi Shingō.
Kisaragi Shingō is currently Third Seat, and is also a disciple of Yama-jii, ranking alongside Kōga Kuchiki as the Third Seat of the First Division.
"They're all Yama-jii's confidants... looks like they're on a secret mission!"
"How dare you be so disrespectful to the Captain-Commander!"
Ling broke the slightly tense atmosphere with a smile. Yama-jii did not scold Ling, but Kisaragi Shingō was standing to the side, was very angry.
"Qin Wu, that's enough," Yama-jii said, after telling his disciple to be quiet. He opened his cloudy yet sharp eyes and said to Zero, "You guessed right, there is indeed something that requires your personal attention."
"Reports indicate that several strange swords have appeared in the 64th South Rukongai. These swords can dramatically increase a person's fighting ability, but are also harmful to the user, and human experiments are being conducted on them."
"Capture the user alive, bring back the knife, and conduct a thorough investigation at its source. These are the mission requirements. Any questions?"
Yama-jii spoke very seriously, which gradually made the usually playful Ling also serious, and the atmosphere remained unchanged.
"There is one problem, though. I'd like to know why you didn't assign other Captain? For example, your two disciples should have more experience in this area than I do."
Zero raised a small question, glancing at the two still leisurely guys beside him.
Kyōraku and Ukitake exchanged a glance before Kyoraku said, "We're going to investigate other places, so you can investigate the more distant Rukongai."
"I really asked a pointless question! Well then, I'm off."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zero vanished into thin air.
"Captain Nangong's Shunpo is getting better and better!"
"Hakuda too, it's said he can withstand seven punches from the master without falling, he's about the same as Kuruyashiki!"
"Alright... Shunsui, go investigate the Kasumioji human experimentation site within the Seireitei, and find a way to get Captain Kasumioji away..."
Kyōraku and Ukitake were marveling at Zero's Shunpo when Yama-jii interrupted them, continuing their discussion of the investigation plan.
The secret investigation of the Kasumioji Clan must not be known to Kasumioji Yakumo; because as the head of the Kasumioji family, everyone subconsciously feels that she is involved.
Ultimately, it was decided that Ukitake's Thirteenth Division would conduct a military exercise with the Third Division, keeping Kasumioji Yakumo temporarily unable to return home, while Kyōraku infiltrated to investigate...
Zero returned to the Squad Barracks to gather more people. After all, if he had to search such a large area by himself, he probably wouldn't be able to find those few people even if he worked himself to death.
The Third Seat Kensei's face had become much less irritable. When he looked at Zero, his eyes no longer held only resentment, but rather awe. The three months he spent cleaning toilets were an unforgettable experience for him.
He was punished by cleaning toilets for ten years after failing the challenge. He was finally freed in the third month when he caught a guy who didn't flush the toilet and reported him to Zero.
After that, Kensei began to monitor others from the low-quality individuals he had captured, until he captured a successor... The successor started capturing people again in order to liberate them, and the quality of the 11th Division began to improve.
The seventh seat has been taken by Kuluo, a former loyal henchman of Zero, while Yuanshan has also taken the ninth seat and is now challenging for the eighth seat day and night.
At this point, Zero began taking attendance. All the members of the third, seventh, eighth, and twelfth seats present were brought along, along with twenty slightly more intelligent Squad Members, to go to Rukongai to begin investigating the case.
The Kidō Corps teleported them to the 63rd district of South Rukongai, which wasn't far off. It was raining heavily there, even more heavily than when Yiping went to ask her father for money.
The sound of rain masked their footsteps, and the group consciously lowered their Reiatsu.
"Divide into five groups and spread out to search. Search villages first, then towns. If any of your Squad Member encounter uncertain situations, inform each other and regroup before making the capture."
"Yes!"
As ordered by Zero, each Seated Officer was to bring four men, and Zero himself was to bring four men as well, to disperse and search the towns and villages in this area.
A day passed quickly, and Zero and his group had already searched five villages and were beginning their search in a small town of two thousand people.
An eerie Reiatsu caught their attention; it was the Reiatsu of a Hollow, slightly stronger than that of Ragged Hollows.
Under Zero's instructions, they secretly surrounded the area and discovered something unusual in a cliff Mountain Valley not far from the town. The five of them hid in the jungle to observe.
This is a Mountain Valley that resembles a dead end, with cliffs over thirty meters high. Four Ragged Hollows were driven here by ten masked men and have no way to escape.
Then those guys took out a rectangular box from behind them, opened it, took out a strange knife, and handed it to one of the Pluses who had followed them.
The knife had a sharp blade, but there were several strange tentacles on the hilt, and an eye that was looking around erratically—it was very eerie...
Zero lowered his voice and said to his subordinate beside him, "Write this down. There were eleven people present, only one of whom was not masked. Judging from his clothing, he is Pluses from this district who has awakened Reiryoku. The fact that he did not resist means he was there voluntarily. He is probably conducting some kind of experiment..."
The strange knife was handed to the Reiryoku awakener by the masked man. When the awakener grasped the hilt, the tentacles on the hilt immediately pierced into his flesh, absorbing his Reiryoku.
Then he charged at the four Ragged Hollows. It was clear that he had no experience dealing with Ragged Hollows, but after a series of wild slashes, he killed all four of Ragged Hollows.
'The weapons forged by the Pluses themselves are hardly capable of killing Hollows, let alone injuring Ragged Hollows. That strange sword can unleash such power, which means it was forged using Reishi Arts... Kasumioji Clan!'
As far as Zero knows, the only family currently forging weapons for the royal family is the Kasumioji Clan, although the location of the royal family is unknown...
It seemed that because it had absorbed too much Reiryoku, the strange knife had actually grown a little larger. Afterwards, the man felt uncomfortable all over and began to wildly swing the knife at the masked men around him.
The masked men didn't tolerate him and launched a sneak attack, stabbing him from behind. The man exploded into Reishi, and the strange knife fell to the ground.
"Very good, the Bakōtō, now that it has reached this stage, can be put into use..."
"The Bakōtō? Is that its name?"
Just as the leader was about to pick up the Bakōtō's that had fallen to the ground, a strange figure appeared behind him.
"I can't move? Such strong Reiatsu, who is it?"
The ringleader couldn't even turn around, and not only him, but his nine accomplices were also unable to move.
Before they could comprehend what was happening, a massive, glowing Chains bound them all together; and when the oppressive feeling subsided, they were able to see the man's haori (a type of traditional Chinese garment), on which was the number 'eleven'.
"11th Division Captain Nangong Kenpachi, damn it..."
The foreman sensed something was wrong and released a tiny, ant-like Spirit Worm from his palm, followed by a small creature biting the back of his tooth...
"Absorbing the user's Reiryoku to enhance the blade's attack power? Interesting blade. Hey, who ordered you to...?"
"Captain, they committed suicide!"
Ling had just been playing with the Bakōtō and was about to turn around to ask a question when he noticed that all ten people had turned a purplish-red color, clearly indicating they had been poisoned.
"Family assassins... Hmph, boring nobles, let's go find other squads."
Zero put the strange weapon back into its box, and before leaving, he used Hadō to destroy the place, leaving nothing behind.
The other teams managed to track them down, but for some unknown reason, the other party suddenly fled quickly and could no longer be found.
A day earlier, Zero had just led his Squad Member to set off when some of the dozen or so Kidō Corps responsible for teleportation rushed to the Kasumioji Clan after finishing their work.
"South 64th District, huh? Heh, so the Captain-Commander noticed us after all! But... don't even think about investigating us openly."
An old man who looked like a white-haired monkey had a sinister look on his face. This man was named Kumoi Gyokaku, and he was the real emperor of the Kasumioji Yakumo Kasumioji Clan.
As for that third young master, he can be easily deceived with a bit of his beauty; the authority to create the Bakōtō was obtained by deceiving the third young master.
Kumoi tells Kasumioji Genki, the third young master of the Kasumioji Clan, that Genki can use his authority to create many powerful weapons, then equip them with assassins to kill Nangong Kenpachi, whom Genki- sama dislikes...
So, the naive Genki believed it and readily agreed to the creation of Kumoi.
Previously, Kasumioji provided weapons to Azashiro, Azashiro helped transform more than two hundred Kasumioji Clan who originally had no Reiryoku. Even the family head did not know about these members.
Having acquired some military strength, Kumoi began large-scale development, intending to use it to arm a powerful army, completely control the Kasumioji Clan, and then slowly plot to seize the Seireitei...
Kumoi had been keeping an eye on the First Division's movements. This morning, Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyōraku stayed inside and didn't come out. When Captain Nangong went in, he immediately became alert.
Following the scout's report of the Thirteenth Division and the Third Division conducting joint exercises, Kumoi deduced that this was Yama-jii having Captain Ukitake restrain the head of the family, preventing her from staying at home, so that he could send in experts to investigate.
As for who the expert investigator was, Kumoi had already guessed, but his useless subordinates were simply unable to detect it... Unwilling to remain passive, Kumoi immediately set off for the Central 46...
Two hours later, Yama-jii was summoned by the Central 46. Kumoi, that old bastard, went to complain, saying that Yama-jii had sent people to investigate their Kasumioji Clan indiscriminately. Just for a slight complaint, the Central 46 interfered with Yama-jii's actions.
The investigation was halted by the Yama-jii on the grounds of 'extraterritoriality,' and his earlier proposal to investigate the Kasumioji Clan was also rejected.
The reason was that Yama-jii had not provided enough evidence to prove that Kasumioji Clan posed a threat, and Yama-jii was furious but helpless.
The so-called 'extraterritoriality' means that the Kasumioji Clan is a superior noble family and does not need to be judged by the Central 46. The Central 46 have no right to judge them. Currently, only the Soul King can directly judge and define them.
Yama-jii understood that the Soul King couldn't speak; it was probably someone representing the Soul King who would be needed to judge him...
Yama-jii can intimidate the Central 46, but the Central 46 can also restrain him; this balance of power is a measure left behind by the Zero Division when they left, fearing that Yama-jii, whose power is off the charts, would join forces with the Five Great Noble Clans to lock up his power.
The Hell Butterfly slowly flew towards the South Sixty Districts of Rukongai, intending to deliver a message to Zero, but its speed was incredibly slow.
Even if the speed was accelerated by Dangai, a whole day had passed by the time the order reached Zero. Just then, Zero had already dealt with the masked men and obtained a Bakōtō.
"Tch, they've probably been interfered with... Let's call it a day and head back!"
After reviewing the information brought by the Hell Butterfly, Zero couldn't help but recall the furtive way Yama-jii had assigned him the mission, only to have it ended after just one day.
The team members did not question Zero's orders. Over the past few years, they had fully accepted this young Captain and recognized his strength and authority.
His displayed strength has already won over the entire 11th Division... and Zero himself doesn't have any bad habits; he's a fairly easy person to talk to...
Actually, it's not like Yama-jii is completely helpless. He just needs to provide evidence to Central 46 to prove that the Kasumioji Clan manufactures threatening weapons.
Yama-jii received Zero's reply that he had obtained the Bakōtō, but he did not have concrete evidence that it was provided by the Kasumioji Clan, so he could not silence the Central 46.
Meanwhile, in the Captain-Commander's office, the Third Division Captain was questioning Yama-jii: "Genryūsai, what is the meaning of this? Why are you having someone sneak into my Kasumioji Clan to search for something? If you've taken a fancy to something, please tell me, and I'll give it to you as a gift."
Everyone present knew that Kasumioji Yakumo was very angry. When she returned, she received a report from her Vassal, Kumoi: an unknown person was secretly investigating the family, possibly with the authorization of the Captain-Commander.
Kumoi didn't say who was investigating, because it was someone he guessed. He just kept reminding the family head that the Captain-Commander didn't trust the Kasumioji Clan.
'Is Kasumioji Yakumo trying to trick me? Or does she really not know about this? Maybe she doesn't know, or perhaps it's her son who's doing it...'
A silence fell over the room. After a moment of thought, Yama-jii, his eyes narrowed, slowly said, "It seems the Third Division Captain wasn't involved. Well then, I'll tell you plainly..."
He told Kasumioji Yakumo everything about the strange weapons that appeared in Rukongai, the human experiments, and the subsequent investigations.
Since a thorough investigation cannot be conducted openly and honestly, let's first give Kasumioji Yakumo a public warning, telling her to go back and investigate herself, and then we'll make further plans.