Recognition

"That... girl?"

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

"Is that the reason you came to Soul Society, Uzumaki Naruto? For that girl (smile)."

"...Then I take it your answer is that you know her?" Uzumaki Naruto caught the clear mockery in Aizen's tone, but he couldn't understand what was so funny. Even if Aizen knew Hinata, what did that have to do with anything amusing?

"What is the definition of knowing someone, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Aizen did not answer directly, merely smiling faintly: "Is it that you have exchanged names, and thus you know each other? Or must you share laughter before you can say a connection has been formed?"

"But names are merely symbols, and laughter can be nothing more than a curtain. Even those seemingly heart-to-heart confessions are often just carefully selected images, the ones best suited to be projected onto the reflection in the other's pupils..." Aizen's voice was calm, yet carried a subtle rhythm, "When you know that certain feelings of yours cannot be accepted by the other, or must never be known to them, would you still pour them out?"

"Conversely, when you glimpse a side of the other beyond their carefully curated image, or when they naturally transform into someone entirely different, and the reflection in your heart shatters, do you truly still know them?"

"So, back to your question, Uzumaki Naruto." Aizen stepped forward, his robes brushing through the void, "At this moment, when you don't even dare to speak that girl's name aloud, I cannot conclude whether the existence you and I perceive is one and the same."

"Therefore..." Aizen stopped before Uzumaki Naruto, placing his hands gently but with undeniable weight upon his shoulders, whispering as if into his ear, "Leave this answer for yourself to find. Believe me, it will be very interesting."

"Provided that... you can enter the Gotei 13."

"Menma! What are you standing there for!"

As if a mirror had shattered in silence, Ishikawa's shout seemed to come from the edge of the horizon.

"I'm calling you, Menma! It's your turn for the assessment!"

"Oh... oh!" Looking at Ishikawa's urging face, Uzumaki Naruto nodded, feeling somewhat dazed.

"Number 638, Menma!" the Soul Reaper at the assessment site also shouted, "Come and be assessed! This is the second time you've been called; if there's no response, your eligibility will be revoked!"

"Go quickly, Menma." Ishikawa urged again.

"Go on, young man." Aizen returned to being that gentle captain, giving Uzumaki Naruto's shoulder a light push, "Believe in yourself, don't feel pressured."

"..."

Uzumaki Naruto cast a strange glance at Aizen, then nodded to Ishikawa and Hinamori Momo, who was making a cheering gesture from the side, and walked toward the assessment point.

[Hoo--]

After walking a few steps away, the Nine-Tails, which had been playing dead, finally spoke up again, asking a series of questions.

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

"I don't know either."

Uzumaki Naruto was also pondering these questions, but he still couldn't be certain how Aizen had obtained information about him.

Did he go to the "cinema" just like him, or did he learn it from Hinata? If it was the latter, what was the true intention behind the words he had just spoken?

Not a single problem was solved; instead, more kept piling up.

However...

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

[What are you talking about?]

"I mean, the fact that Aizen recognized me might actually help us." Uzumaki Naruto explained, "Although I'm not entirely sure why, he did activate Kyōka Suigetsu just as I was about to say [Uzumaki Naruto]."

"At first glance, it might seem like he wanted to have a heart-to-heart with me, but his behavior also looked like... he was covering for me?"

"Besides, did he not want the name [Uzumaki Naruto] to be heard by others, or did he not want me to continue saying things that might affect his plans? The difference between the two could lead to very different outcomes..."

Uzumaki Naruto fell into deep thought again. Seeing this, the Nine-Tails silently swallowed the question [What on earth is Kyōka Suigetsu again?].

As a simple Tailed Beast, it felt increasingly unable to keep up with the rhythm of these wicked humans.

"Hmph... whatever. In the end, just tell it all to my Tailed Beast Ball..."

After muttering to itself, the Nine-Tails couldn't help but think of one more thing.

"If this brat really is the reincarnation of Asura, then he truly is becoming less and less like Asura, or that bastard Hashirama Senju..."

Uzumaki Naruto didn't ponder for long before arriving in front of the massive crystal pillar.

The eyes of the entire crowd focused on him.

After all, between the earlier incident with Hanama Natsu and the fact that Captain Aizen had lingered by this newcomer from the Rukon District, the two appearing to be in pleasant conversation—the combination of these two factors made it impossible not to attract everyone's attention.

The Soul Reaper in charge of the assessment naturally realized this as well.

Understanding that Captain Aizen was watching, he suppressed his usual impatience and arrogance toward the residents of the Rukon District, verified Uzumaki Naruto's identity with a serious expression, and then read out the assessment precautions.

"Do not touch anything randomly, and do not run around. Simply place your hand on the pillar in front of you when I give the command. It doesn't matter where you place it; it won't affect the result..."

After confirming that Uzumaki Naruto understood, he returned to his original position and operated the spirit particle dial to reset it to zero.

"Alright, place your hand on it."

As he gave the order, the minds of the onlookers were thoroughly stirred.

Since the Central 46 had implemented the [Universal Martial Arts] policy, the Gotei 13's assessment work in the Rukon District had been ongoing for three months.

The original intent behind such a prolonged screening process was to unearth every last individual with talent who had been overlooked in the past.

Yet, despite this, not a single person from East District 22 had passed the assessment to date. One must realize that even districts beyond the fiftieth had produced several successful candidates, a fact that inevitably left them feeling somewhat concerned.

Therefore, seeing Captain Aizen lingering by Naruto's side, many residents of the Rukon District could not help but harbor a glimmer of faint hope—after all, if their district could produce a Soul Reaper, there might be some mutual support in the future; human connections existed even within the Soul Society.

The Soul Reapers of the 5th Division were observing this scene as well.

They, too, wanted to see what was so special about this brat who, upon his first arrival in the Soul Society, had indirectly caused the downfall of a 7th Seat of the Gotei 13 and managed to catch the eye of Captain Aizen.

And so, under the gaze of the masses, Naruto calmly pressed his palm against the cold surface of the crystal pillar.

Just as with every previous attempt, the examining Soul Reaper channeled a faint trace of guiding spiritual pressure into it.

Then—

The crystal pillar remained motionless, without even the slightest reaction.

The Rukon District residents who had taken the assessment previously were at least able to make the pillar emit a hazy white light, causing the halo to climb a short distance; at the very least, they could generate a faint glow at the base of the pillar... but no one had ever been like Naruto, who lacked even the ability to produce a single spark of light from the pillar.

The entire scene instantly fell into an eerie silence, as if the very air had frozen.

A few seconds later, once it was certain that the pillar was truly stingy enough to refuse even a shred of light, a few 5th Division Soul Reapers who could no longer contain themselves let out undisguised sneers.

"Heh, you really have to hand it to him, this brat is truly special—it's just that his specialty is in the wrong direction."

They had been conducting assessments for the 5th Division for three months, and they had truly never seen talent so unimaginably poor.

Not all Soul Reapers agreed with Captain Aizen's handling of the situation. In the eyes of some, the residents of the Rukon District were not worth caring about; in the past, there had even been an incident where twenty-eight thousand Rukon District residents were wiped out to maintain stability, which gave one a glimpse into the actual status of the Rukon District residents.

That was why they felt schadenfreude regarding Naruto's talent. After all, you are just a newly born soul from the Rukon District, so why should we Soul Reapers be held responsible for you?

Even if 7th Seat Hanama Natsu was truly in the wrong, to take a step back, was the brat who lured him into making a mistake not also at fault?

Hanama Natsu was naturally among these gloating Soul Reapers. He asked himself, when he discovered that Captain Aizen seemed to be paying special attention to the brat, he felt a bit panicked. He worried whether Aizen had discovered that the brat possessed talent, and if that were true, what would happen if the brat became a Soul Reaper and sought revenge on him later?

But now, everything was fine.

"Hmph... having a pretty face but not knowing how to utilize it, how foolish," Hanama Natsu thought bitterly. "Just wait, the lifespan in the Soul Society is measured in thousands of years."

"I don't believe Captain Aizen's scrutiny can last forever... when that time comes, both the brat and the old man will have to..."

A trace of vicious, cold light flashed deep in Hanama Natsu's eyes.

Most of the onlookers from the Rukon District revealed undisguised disappointment.

Ishikawa also let out a heavy sigh, though he hadn't held much hope to begin with, and soon began to calculate how to help Menma adapt to life in the Rukon District.

Aizen, meanwhile, watched everything in the arena with his usual expression.

Everyone's reactions—shock, disappointment, secret joy, calculation—were clearly reflected in his deep pupils.

Seeing Naruto's unimaginably poor assessment results, one still could not see a hint of joy or disappointment on his face; it was as calm as an ancient well without a ripple.

[Hey! Brat, what do we do now!] Although it didn't fully understand the specific situation, its intuition told the Nine-Tails that things were looking bad, and it shouted anxiously in Naruto's mind, [How could it turn out like this??]

"Isn't it... normal for it to be like this?" Naruto, at the center of the storm, was calm, as if he had expected it all along.

"After all, we exist in soul form maintained by chakra, but chakra is ultimately not the same as reishi..."

[Then is this the only way?] The Nine-Tails also couldn't hide its disappointment; it had actually quite wanted to go inside that so-called Seireitei to take a look.

"...Not necessarily," Naruto responded softly in his mind. "If this detection device isn't refined enough to only identify the density differences of pure reishi."

[What do you mean?] The Nine-Tails was a bit dazed.

"Alright, the assessment has failed, let's go." At that moment, the examining Soul Reaper urged, "Next!"

Hearing this, Naruto remained in place. The examining Soul Reaper finally could not suppress his impatience: "Hey! I told you to leave, are you list—ah?"

"Ah?"

A sound of astonishment, of utter disbelief, burst from his mouth twice in succession.

He looked as if he had seen something that was absolutely impossible to occur, so shocked that he was instantly struck dumb!

It wasn't just him—the entire crowd of onlookers, all the Soul Reapers, Hanama Natsu, Hinamori Momo, Ishikawa... everyone was as if struck by an invisible giant hammer. The expressions they had worn were frozen, and then, in unison, they revealed looks of horror.

They saw that the crystal pillar, which had been as silent as a dead object and had just been stingy enough to refuse even a shred of light, suddenly erupted with a blinding brilliance at its base. Unlike the light of all the previous candidates, this light, which was almost substantial, was like a torrent; the moment it appeared, it instantly surged toward the top of the pillar!