Those Familiar Faces in Memory

This war, in truth, could hardly be called a righteous one.

Even though there had been deep-seated grievances between the Quincy and the Shinigamis for eight hundred years.

Yet, after that war had concluded, the Quincy had remained quite peaceable. It was only because they had hunted Hollows to excess that the Shinigamis had brought down the butcher's blade upon them, citing the disruption of the balance of souls as their justification. In reality, the Quincy were quite aggrieved.

But Natsuki had no intention of crying out for justice on behalf of the Quincy.

When all was said and done, his own morality was not so noble as to reach such heights.

At present, he was not part of the so-called decision-making echelon; he was merely an executioner who followed orders.

Years of war had claimed the lives of many Shinigamis.

As a combat division, the 11th Division had suffered particularly heavy casualties. Many people Natsuki was familiar with had died in battle, and many new faces had joined the 11th Division—some were students who had just graduated from the Shino Academy, while others had been transferred as reinforcements from the 3rd Division.

The 3rd Division was a support division. The term "support" meant that, beyond providing aid when other divisions encountered difficulties, they would also, when necessary, supply a portion of their members to other divisions to replenish those who had fallen in battle.

It was for this reason that the 3rd Division had the largest number of members in the entire Gotei 13, to the point where multiple people even held the same seated officer position—all to cope with the special circumstances that might arise at any moment.

As the lieutenant of the 11th Division, Natsuki did indeed wish to reduce the casualties of his men, but faced with a protracted war, there was little he could do. If the initial stages of the war had been merely a struggle between mixed-blood Quincy and ordinary Shinigamis, then as the war continued to evolve, the strength of those entering the fray grew ever greater.

The entry of lieutenants like Natsuki was not the final form of the war.

Later on, captains of the Gotei 13 would personally participate in the war, engaging in combat against the pure-blood Quincy of the opposing side.

Gosu, as the captain of the 11th Division, naturally took the lead and participated in the fighting.

He tried very hard, but unfortunately, he was ultimately unable to overcome the odds.

In the war against the Quincy, he sustained severe injuries and was eventually forced to return to the Soul Society to recuperate.

On the surface, Gosu appeared somewhat shameful.

But in the subsequent developments, he was not the most shameful of them all.

There were captains who had died in battle!

The probability of a Gotei 13 captain dying in battle was quite high.

Even though Shinigamis possessed long lifespans, and many souls with spiritual power could live peacefully in the Rukon District for decades or even centuries before becoming Shinigamis, once they truly became Shinigamis and grew into powerhouses, they were conversely unable to live such long, peaceful lives.

The price of possessing power was that the dangers one had to face were also greater.

As those standing at the pinnacle of the Shinigamis, the dangers faced by the captains of the Gotei 13 were of the highest order.

Because the enemies they faced were formidable, they had to go all out and fight without the slightest negligence; often, a single lapse in judgment could cost them their lives.

Regarding the death of captains, Natsuki could only sigh.

As one of the participants in the war, he had not been fighting in the Human World the entire time.

During the interim, he had also returned to the Soul Society to recuperate for a period.

The Soul Society adopted a rotational rest system, dispatching Shinigamis to the Human World to exterminate the Quincy.

After returning to the Soul Society, Natsuki did not remain idle, but instead dedicated himself to cultivation.

As the lieutenant of the 11th Division, unlike when he served as a seated officer, his status made it inevitable that he would have contact with the captains and lieutenants of other divisions.

Some captains were people he did not recognize, while others were familiar faces from his memories.

There was no need to mention the Head Captain of the 1st Division, Yamamoto.

The captain of the 2nd Division was named Shihoin Utsusemi; she was not Yoruichi from the original story, but rather Yoruichi's grandmother.

The captain of the 3rd Division was another unfamiliar person named Toyama Hisanobu, though Natsuki did know his Third Seat, Otoribashi Rojuro.

As for the 4th Division, the captain was Unohana Retsu, which went without saying.

The captain of the 5th Division was also an old acquaintance, Hirako Shinji. The time he had become a captain was actually quite similar to Gosu's, separated by only a year or two, making him a relatively young captain as well.

However, the person Natsuki paid the most attention to was not Hirako Shinji, but his lieutenant, the young Aizen Sosuke.

As for the 6th Division, the captain was Kuchiki Ginrei, and the lieutenant was Kuchiki Sojun.

These were two people who existed in Kuchiki Byakuya's memories and had been briefly mentioned in the anime's original plot.

Among the subsequent divisions, there were many people from Natsuki's memories; although some had not yet become captains, they were already beginning to show their talent.

It could be said that all the Shinigamis who would become captains and lieutenants in the future were geniuses. Once they had joined the Gotei 13, they were bound to make a name for themselves.

Even Aizen had hidden his true strength until he revealed his true colors in the original story.

His status was, at the very least, that of a 5th Division lieutenant.

Urahara Kisuke was the same; before serving as the captain of the 12th Division, he had been the Third Seat of the 2nd Division and concurrently served as the captain of the 3rd Patrol Corps under the 2nd Division.

During his time in the Soul Society, even though Natsuki did not take the initiative to socialize, these people took the initiative to greet him. Especially those Shinigamis who had not participated in the war in the Human World were very curious about the situation there; they would take the initiative to come before Natsuki to ask about the battle, and through such exchanges, they all became old friends.

Now, Natsuki's relationship with the lieutenants of various divisions was quite decent.

In the forest beneath the Sokyoku Hill, Natsuki's figure constantly flickered and flashed, appearing now on this branch, now on another. He was practicing Shunpo here.

Shunpo was a footwork technique used by Shinigamis for instantaneous movement.

Because the spiritual particles in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo were so dense, using Shunpo here did not allow one to glide through the sky as one could in the Human World, but there were still ways to improve the speed of one's Shunpo.

For instance, practicing Shunpo in places where it was difficult to find a foothold, such as darting and skimming through tree branches, was one such method.

This method of training was something Shihoin Yoruichi had imparted to Natsuki.

It seemed he had triggered the passive effect of "speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Not long after Natsuki began his practice, a woman's voice rang out in his immediate vicinity, "Natsuki, you really are diligent!"

Natsuki ceased his Shunpo training, his figure flickering into view.

Compared to several years ago, his appearance had not changed in the slightest.

The woman who appeared before him, however, looked quite different from how she appeared in the original story.

She possessed the golden-yellow eyes characteristic of the Shihoin Clan and tanned skin, clad in a specially modified black Shihakusho. The wide sleeves of the garment had been trimmed away, revealing her tanned arms, and the legs had been tapered as well. Of course, that was not the most significant difference; the most notable change was that she wore her hair in a short cut at this time.

"Yoruichi, you've come!"