Feeling Capable Again

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the entire captains' conference room changed. Everyone's eyes instinctively focused on Kensei Muguruma.

Two years!

For Soul Reapers with their long lives, two years could pass in the blink of an eye. Yet two years were also enough to change many things!

Over those two years, the shadow of the former Captain-Commander, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, had all but vanished from the Seireitei. Under the leadership of the current Captain-Commander, Unohana Retsu, the very spiritual core and structure of the Thirteen Divisions had undergone enormous changes.

That new spiritual core could be summarized as follows:

Every division would unite under the leadership of the First Division, remain loyal to the Seireitei, loyal to the Thirteen Divisions, and loyal to countless souls!

Take the defense of the Seireitei as their mission, carry forward the spirit of arduous struggle, remain ready to fight at all times, and fight whenever called upon!

As for the specific structure of the Thirteen Divisions, the thirteen separate division designations had remained in place, but their actual operational logic had changed considerably.

For example, the current captains' meeting was no longer attended only by the thirteen captains. The participants had been expanded to include both captains and Vice-Captains.

Thus, every captain in the conference room had their own lieutenant standing behind them.

On the surface, this system was implemented to pool wisdom and strength, facilitate the transmission of orders, and promote coordination between divisions. In reality, however, it invisibly weakened the captains' authority while elevating the influence and status of their lieutenants.

In other words, it further dispersed the captains' power without anyone noticing, distributing greater authority to lieutenants and seated officers.

As a result, in today's Thirteen Divisions, captains had gradually become more like the spiritual pillars and