Natsuki was actually a very perceptive person.
After he'd been unable to engage in strenuous exercise in his previous life, enduring the torment of illness had also made him more perceptive. He'd grown increasingly attuned to the attitudes and thoughts of those around him.
This time, after his unexpected encounter with Azashiro Kenpachi.
Natsuki had immediately realized that Azashiro Kenpachi was hiding some unknown secret.
There was no way the other man's appearance in Rukongai was a coincidence.
However, Natsuki had no intention of prying into Azashiro Kenpachi's secret.
Everyone had secrets of their own. There was no need to get to the bottom of everything. Natsuki himself had secrets, too. His greatest secret was that he was a "transmigrator."
Back in Seireitei.
Natsuki first went to the 11th Division and reported to the vice-captain, Gosu, to hand in his mission report and give an account of how it had gone. He didn't tell Gosu about his encounter with Azashiro Kenpachi.
After handing in his report.
Natsuki returned to training in the 11th Division.
His life was actually quite monotonous.
Perhaps because he'd witnessed the helplessness of the Shinigami facing a Menos Grande soon after arriving in this world, and later seen so many members of the Expeditionary Force die in battle, his greatest goal now was to work hard to grow stronger. Only with enough strength could he survive in this dangerous world.
As for whether his goals would change in the future, that was a matter for the future.
Time passed quietly.
In the blink of an eye, several more months went by.
For the Shinigami living in Seireitei, a few months was an extremely short time.
Because Shinigami lived so long, society in Soul Society progressed exceptionally slowly.
During those months, Natsuki had spent his time helping Gosu with division business, going out to slay Hollows, and training. He didn't find it tiresome. On the contrary, he could feel himself improving.
If nothing else, he'd finally broken through that last barrier during this time.
He'd successfully mastered his Zanpakuto's Shikai. It was a little hard to believe.
Natsuki was a Third Seat, yet he hadn't even mastered Shikai.
But when you considered that this was the 11th Division, it was no longer so strange.
In the original story, the 11th Division's captain, Zaraki Kenpachi, hadn't even mastered Shikai. It was perfectly normal for Natsuki, a Third Seat, to have struggled with it.
"Natsuki, take a look at this report."
As usual, Captain Azashiro Kenpachi was nowhere to be found in the captain's office.
Beside the captain's desk was the vice-captain Gosu's desk. At that moment, Gosu was sitting behind it, dealing with tedious division business, while Natsuki had come to assist him.
Gosu signed various documents, then suddenly pulled out a recent report and handed it to Natsuki.
After spending several months together, Gosu and Natsuki had grown familiar with each other. Gosu no longer addressed him by his seat, but simply called him by name.
Natsuki took the report and read it.
Its contents were simple. The 12th Division had recently detected a large number of souls suddenly disappearing in Rukongai. Suspecting that some sort of conspiracy might be behind it, they didn't know whether it was Hollows or something else causing the disappearances, so they had reported the matter to the 1st Division. The 1st Division had then drafted an official notice and distributed it to the entire Gotei 13, instructing all Shinigami to stay alert. If they came across anything similar while on a mission in Rukongai, they were to report it immediately without hesitation.
"I'll pass this along to the members of the division," Natsuki said after reading the report and understanding what Gosu wanted.
Gosu said nothing more.
After helping Gosu with some division business and easing his workload, Natsuki passed the report's contents on to the members of the 11th Division. He told them to keep an eye out from now on, though he had no idea whether they'd actually listen.
They were, after all, a bunch of brawlers.
After taking care of all that, Natsuki received word that a Menos Grande had appeared in Rukongai.
Without a moment's hesitation, Natsuki, the highest-ranking member present aside from the captain and vice-captain, set out.
He didn't bring any other members along to help. If it was an ordinary Menos Grande, he could handle it alone.
If it was an intermediate or high-level Menos Grande, though—
Now that Natsuki had mastered Shikai, the outcome was less certain if he used it.
Once again, the battle took place in the wilderness of Rukongai.
Hollows seemed to prefer appearing in places like this.
It was rare for one to appear directly in the central districts of Rukongai.
But it did happen. Usually, however, the Hollow would be dealt with by a Shinigami who spotted it before it could cause any damage there.
In fact, any Hollow whose arrival caused even a little commotion would be detected by the Gotei 13, who would then send a Shinigami to deal with it.
But Hueco Mundo was simply too vast. Among the countless Hollows, the occasional unusual one would appear. They were either powerful or had special abilities that let them evade the Gotei 13's monitoring devices, and they would go on to cause massive destruction in Soul Society.
That was why the Gotei 13 still suffered casualties from time to time, and even lost captains in battle, despite receiving advance warnings.
"Pfft!"
With a single slash, Natsuki easily cut down a Gillian that had only just arrived in Soul Society, before it could reveal its terrifying might to the nearby residents of Rukongai. It had been felled by someone weaker than itself.
Thud!
The giant body collapsed to the ground. To hasten the Gillian's remains from vanishing, Natsuki followed up with a Ghost Way and burned them to ash.
Left alone, the body would turn into Reishi and disappear before long.
But there was no telling whether an ordinary soul might wander nearby and come into contact with the Hollow's remains in the meantime.
It would be a bad thing if the Hollow's power contaminated an ordinary soul.
Even though the chances were extremely slim, Natsuki had still taken it into account.
After crossing Rukongai, he headed back to Seireitei.
Perhaps by coincidence, the area where Natsuki had fought the Hollow this time wasn't far from the place where he'd met Azashiro Kenpachi in Rukongai. As he made his way back, he couldn't help thinking of the report again.
It seemed the soul disappearances had occurred in these same areas.
And on his way back.
Natsuki keenly sensed a familiar Reiatsu.
It was extremely weak, almost nonexistent, but to Natsuki, whose Asauchi could absorb Reishi to help its wielder grow stronger even in its sealed state, whose Zanpakuto was extraordinarily special, and whose Spiritual Perception was exceptionally sharp, this Reiatsu still stood out like a beacon in the night.
"Azashiro Kenpachi, does this have something to do with you?"
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