Recognition

"That... girl?"

At Naruto's question, the smile on Aizen's face seemed to deepen.

"So this is why you came to the Soul Society, Naruto-kun? For that girl?"

"...Then I take it your answer is that you know her?" Naruto caught the unmistakable teasing in Aizen's tone, but couldn't understand what was so funny about it. Even if Aizen knew Hinata, what was there to laugh about?

"What does it mean to know someone, Naruto-kun?"

Aizen didn't answer directly. He merely said with a faint smile, "Is exchanging names enough to say you know each other, or must you share a laugh before you can say you have a connection?"

"But names are just symbols, and laughter can be nothing more than a veil. Even the heartfelt honesty that seems to come from deep within may be nothing but another reflection, carefully chosen to appear in the other person's eyes..." Aizen's voice was calm, yet carried a faint rhythm. "When you know that some of your feelings won't be accepted by the other person, or must never be known to them, will you still pour your heart out?"

"And conversely, when you glimpse a side of someone beyond the image they carefully chose to show you, or when they naturally change into someone entirely different, after the reflection of them in your heart has shattered, can you still say you know them?"

"So, to return to your question, Naruto-kun." Aizen took a slow step forward, his robes brushing against empty space. "When you don't even dare speak that girl's name aloud, I can't say whether the person you know and the one I know are the same."

"And so..." Aizen stopped in front of Naruto and gently placed both hands on his shoulders, with a weight that left no room for doubt. In a low voice, like a whisper in his ear, he said, "You'll have to find the answer for yourself. Believe me, it'll be interesting."

"Provided... you can enter the Seireitei."

"Menma! What are you standing around for?"

It was as if a mirror had silently shattered. Ishikawa's shout seemed to come from the far horizon.

"I called you, Menma! It's your turn to take the test!"

"Oh... right!" Naruto gazed at Ishikawa's urging face and nodded, still a little dazed.

"Number 638, Menma!" The Soul Reaper overseeing the test was calling out too. "Come take the test! This is the second time I've called you. If you don't respond, you'll be disqualified!"

"Go on, Menma," Ishikawa urged again.

"Go on, young man." Aizen had returned to his gentle captainly demeanor. He gave Naruto's shoulder an encouraging nudge. "Believe in yourself. Don't feel pressured."

"..."

Naruto shot Aizen a strange glance, then nodded to Ishikawa and Hinamori Momo, who was making an encouraging gesture nearby, before heading to the testing area.

[Whoosh—]

After Naruto had walked a few steps away, the Nine-Tails, which had been playing dead, finally spoke again, firing off a string of questions.

[Who is that man named Aizen? How does he know your identity? What was with the crowd's reaction just now? And why do I feel like he's been looking at me the whole time?]

"I don't know either."

Naruto was pondering the same questions, but still couldn't figure out how Aizen had learned about him.

Had he gone to the "movie theater" too, or had he heard about Naruto from Hinata? If it was the latter, what had he really meant by what he'd just said?

Not a single question had been answered. Instead, there were more of them than ever.

But...

"This might not be a bad thing for us."

[What did you say?]

"I said Aizen recognizing me might actually help us," Naruto explained. "I'm still not sure why, but right before I was about to say 'Uzumaki Naruto,' he did use Illusion."

"At first glance, it might seem like he wanted to speak frankly with me. But his actions also looked like he was... covering for me."

"And did he not want anyone else to hear the name 'Uzumaki Naruto,' or did he not want anyone to hear what I might say afterward that could interfere with his plans? Those are two very different things..."

Naruto fell into thought again. Seeing this, the Nine-Tails swallowed the question, "What in the world is Illusion?" without a word.

As a simple Tailed Beast, it felt more and more like it couldn't keep up with the schemes of these wicked humans.

"Hmph... whatever you're plotting, in the end you can all take it up with my Tailed Beast Ball..."

After grumbling to itself, the Nine-Tails couldn't help thinking of something else.

"If this kid really is Asura's reincarnation, then he's really getting less and less like Asura—or that bastard Hashirama Senju..."

Naruto didn't ponder for long before reaching the enormous crystal pillar.

Everyone's eyes focused on him.

After all, both the earlier incident with Hanama Natsu and the fact that Captain Aizen had stayed beside this newcomer from Rukongai, seemingly chatting happily with him, made it impossible not to draw everyone's attention.

The Soul Reaper in charge of the test was naturally aware of this.

Knowing that Captain Aizen was watching, he restrained his usual impatience and arrogance toward Rukongai residents. He carefully checked Naruto's identity, then read out the test instructions in a serious tone.

"Don't touch anything else, and don't wander off. When I give the signal, just place your hand on the pillar in front of you. It doesn't matter where you put it; it won't affect the result..."

After confirming that Naruto understood, he returned to his place and reset the Reishi dial.

"All right. Put your hand on it."

At his command, the onlookers' thoughts were stirred up instead.

The Gotei 13 had been conducting tests in Rukongai for three months now, ever since Central 46 introduced the Universal Martial Arts policy.

The purpose of such an extensive screening was to find everyone with talent whom they'd overlooked in the past.

And yet, not one person from East District 22 had passed the test! Several people from districts beyond the fiftieth had passed, which inevitably bothered the residents of East District 22.

So when they saw Captain Aizen staying beside Naruto, a faint hope stirred in the hearts of many Rukongai residents. After all, if someone from their district became a Soul Reaper, that might earn them some consideration in the future. Even the Soul Society had its networks of personal connections.

The Soul Reapers from the 5th Division were watching as well.

They, too, wanted to see what was so special about this kid, who had indirectly taken down a 7th Seat of the Gotei 13 on his first day in the Soul Society and had caught Captain Aizen's attention.

And so, under the eyes of the crowd, Naruto calmly placed his palm against the cold surface of the crystal pillar.

As before, the testing Soul Reaper fed it a faint guiding pulse of spiritual pressure.

Then—

The crystal pillar remained perfectly still. It didn't even show the faintest reaction.

The Rukongai residents who'd taken the test before could at least make the pillar glow a hazy white, its halo rising a short distance. At worst, they could still produce a faint ring of light at the pillar's base... But no one had ever been as incapable as Naruto of producing even a single speck of light.

The entire crowd fell into an eerie silence, as if even the air had frozen.

A few seconds later, once it was clear the pillar truly wouldn't deign to give off so much as a glimmer, several 5th Division Soul Reapers who couldn't hold back let out undisguised laughs.

Well, you had to admit, this kid really was special. Just not in a good way.

They'd been testing people in the 5th Division for three months, and had never seen anyone with talent so unbelievably poor.

Not every Soul Reaper agreed with Captain Aizen's decision. In the eyes of some of them, the people of Rukongai weren't worth caring about. There had even been an incident in the past when twenty-eight thousand Rukongai residents were wiped out to maintain order. That alone said plenty about their actual standing.

That was why they took such glee in Naruto's lack of talent. Why should they, the Soul Reapers, be held responsible for some newborn soul from Rukongai?

Even if 7th Seat Hanama had truly been in the wrong, wasn't this kid who'd lured him into it also at fault?

Hanama Natsu was among the Soul Reapers taking pleasure in the failure, too. To be honest, when he saw that Captain Aizen seemed especially interested in the kid, he'd panicked a little. He'd worried that Aizen had noticed the kid's talent—and if that was true, what would happen if the kid became a Soul Reaper and came after him later?

But now, everything was fine.

"Hmph... A pretty face, but too stupid to make use of it. What a fool," Hanama Natsu thought bitterly. "Just you wait. Lifespans in the Soul Society are measured in centuries."

"I refuse to believe Captain Aizen's investigations will go on forever... When that day comes, both the kid and the old man will..."

A vicious glint flashed deep in Hanama Natsu's eyes.

Most of the Rukongai residents watching wore undisguised disappointment.

Ishikawa let out a heavy sigh, but he hadn't had high hopes to begin with. He quickly began figuring out how to help Menma adjust to life in Rukongai.

Aizen watched everything unfolding before him with an unchanged expression.

Everyone's reactions—shock, disappointment, delight, calculation—were clearly reflected in his deep eyes.

Even after seeing Naruto's unbelievably poor test result, there was no joy or disappointment on Aizen's face. He remained as calm as a still, ancient well.

[Hey, kid! What do we do now?] The Nine-Tails didn't quite understand what was happening, but its instincts told it that the situation was bad. It cried out anxiously in Naruto's mind. [How did this happen?!]

"So... isn't this what you'd expect?" Naruto remained calm at the center of the storm, as if he'd known this would happen.

"After all, we're maintaining our soul forms with chakra, but chakra isn't the same thing as Reishi..."

[So this is it, then?] The Nine-Tails couldn't hide its disappointment. It had kind of wanted to see that Seireitei place.

"...Not necessarily," Naruto replied quietly in his mind. "Not if this testing device isn't precise enough to recognize differences in pure Reishi density."

[What do you mean?] The Nine-Tails was confused.

"That's enough. You failed the test. Move along," the testing Soul Reaper urged. "Next!"

Naruto still didn't move. The Soul Reaper finally lost patience. "Hey! I told you to leave. Can't you hear... Huh?"

"Huh?"

Two shocked exclamations burst from his mouth, one after the other.

It was as if he'd seen something that absolutely couldn't exist. He was so stunned that he was momentarily speechless!

And it wasn't just him. The entire crowd, all the Soul Reapers, Hanama Natsu, Hinamori Momo, Ishikawa... Every single person seemed to have been struck by an invisible hammer. Their expressions froze, then gave way to the same look of horror.

The crystal pillar had been still as a corpse, moments ago refusing to give off even the faintest glimmer. Now, a brilliant light suddenly burst from its base. Unlike the light from any of the previous test takers, this nearly solid radiance surged like a flood. The instant it appeared, it swept toward the top of the pillar!