Yamabuki Chidori lay on a nearby roof beam and watched. "Old Man, you're good at teaching disciples! Why not start an academy and take in more students? We could expand the Gotei 13 and make a name for ourselves."
Yamamoto considered it. It was a good idea, but they had no money, no people, and no territory. They couldn't keep relying on the Shihōin Clan forever.
"I'll think about it. Didn't you say you were going to study Kidō? Have you spent the whole morning slacking off here?" Yamamoto stared at Yamabuki Chidori.
"Well... I was... I... bye!" Yamabuki Chidori fled with a Flash Step. What was he supposed to do now that he'd been caught slacking off at work?
Yamamoto laughed and cursed under his breath.
Building the Gotei 13 would be a long, hard road.
And how could they start an academy without money?
Yamamoto was worrying over it when he saw Yamabuki Chidori return.
"What are you doing back, brat?"
"Don't be angry, Captain. As your Lieutenant, of course I should help solve your problems. I know a way to get money—and take it from the nobles with every right to do so," Yamabuki Chidori said.
The nobles controlled most of Soul Society's resources. Squeezing money out of them would be no easy feat.
They couldn't simply rob them, either. Yamamoto couldn't think of a good solution.
But the brat claimed he could make the nobles hand over their money willingly.
"Tell me more," Yamamoto said.
"Captain, sincerity alone won't win people over. You need a scheme. If we want them to hand over their money, we'll have to play them," Yamabuki Chidori said.
"A scheme?" Yamamoto was even more confused.
This was hardly the Old Man's strong suit, so he listened closely.
"Captain, come closer. Here's what we do..."
The contract's signed, so here's an extra update. Three updates a day, with more this afternoon.
Bankai! Blazing Fire Sword
Yamabuki Chidori leaned close to Yamamoto's ear and explained his plan.
It was a vicious scheme. The Old Man of a thousand years later would never have agreed to it. But Yamamoto was ruthless now, willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goals. One vicious scheme was nothing. If pushed far enough, he might not even care what happened to all of Soul Society.
"Are you sure this will work?" Yamamoto asked.
"How will we know unless we try? It won't hurt us either way," Yamabuki Chidori whispered.
"Fine. We'll do it your way." Yamamoto agreed without hesitation.
If Yamabuki Chidori's plan succeeded, the Gotei 13 would come out the biggest winner.
Yamamoto then summoned every member of the Gotei 13 to his room.
At present, its members were Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Shunshun Shidō, Saitō Fubōfu, Tenjirō Kirinji, and Yamabuki Chidori.
Sashō Chōjirō counted as only half a member. Besides, he was still young. They couldn't tell him about this.
"That's the plan. What do you think?" Yamamoto asked his subordinates.
Yamabuki Chidori didn't much care what they thought of it. What kind of people were the First Gotei 13? Lunatics through and through. Villains, every last one!
A thousand years later, Yhwach would describe Yamamoto as he had been a thousand years before: "He would sacrifice even his subordinates for victory."
And Retsu Unohana, who had yet to appear, was reputed to be the worst villain Soul Society had ever seen. Yamabuki Chidori still had no idea what Unohana had done to earn that title!
"No objections! It sounds fun." Shunshun Shidō grinned. He had joined the Gotei 13 for entertainment. As the head of one of the Five Noble Clans, he had been born with everything. All that remained was to keep finding ways to amuse himself.
Saitō Fubōfu looked delighted. As far as that mad girl was concerned, someone to fight was all she needed. Nothing else mattered!
"Tenjirō Kirinji, you're our medic. Take the two children out of Seireitei tomorrow and come back later. The rest of you, be ready to fight at any moment," Yamamoto ordered.
Tenjirō Kirinji said nothing more. Good people did not survive in this chaotic age.
With everyone in agreement, they went off to prepare.
Early the next morning, Tenjirō Kirinji took Delia and Sashō Chōjirō out of Seireitei. He told everyone he was taking the children up the mountain to gather herbs. Neither child suspected a thing, and both went along with him.
Seireitei was still peaceful. The nobles went on enjoying their leisurely days, drinking tea, arranging flowers, or discussing which young beauty they had most recently married.
Shunshun Shidō stood at the highest point in Seireitei, gazing down at the nobles' decadent lives with delight.
Would these people who always looked down on others end up wetting themselves in a moment?
He took an egg-sized pill from his robes and flicked it into the sky. It burst in midair!
It was a Hollow Lure, used to attract Hollows. In later years, Uryu Ishida would use the same method to draw a horde of Hollows for his contest with Kurosaki Ichigo.
But Shunshun Shidō had thrown an enormous dose. What sort of monsters would it bring? They were about to find out!
For the first few minutes, Seireitei remained peaceful. Nothing happened.
Yamamoto sat in his room practicing calligraphy, paying no attention to the world outside.
Then the first Hollow arrived.
Shino Academy had not yet been founded. Apart from a few elite nobles, most Soul Reapers had received no formal training and were poor fighters. Many guards hired by noble houses were only there to earn a living. They could scare the commoners in Rukongai, but making them fight Hollows? That was asking for their lives!
Soon, the first scream rang out across Seireitei.
A High-Ranking Noble had an arm around his new concubine as he strutted before his servants. Then a Hollow lunged straight at his face and bit off half his body.
Chaos erupted.
Most nobles did have higher Reiatsu than ordinary people, but high Reiatsu did not mean they could fight. Without proper training in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō, all that Reiatsu merely made them bigger, fatter prey for Hollows!
The guards' first reaction to seeing their master devoured was to turn and run.
Was this a joke? Why risk their lives for a few hundred a month?
And there was more than one Hollow. A second appeared, then a third, until they filled the sky!
Yamabuki Chidori stared stiffly at Shunshun Shidō. "How much did you use? Why are there so many Hollows?"
Shunshun Shidō chuckled. "I threw out every Hollow Lure the Shihōin Clan had. Isn't this lively?"
As he spoke, he leapt up and kicked an oncoming Hollow to pieces.
The nobles, so accustomed to looking down on everyone else, fled the Hollows screaming and sobbing. There were plenty of capable fighters among them, but they could barely protect themselves, let alone anyone else.
"Hahaha! Look at them scramble! They call themselves the nobility of Soul Society, yet they're utterly useless!" Shunshun Shidō roared with laughter at the carnage before him.
Sure enough, the First Gotei 13 were all mad. Not one of them had a normal mind.
When Saitō Fubōfu saw so many Hollows, she burst into wild laughter and charged with her sword. She hacked and slashed through the horde, sending flesh flying as she carved her way in and out again and again!
Yamabuki Chidori drew his blade and joined the fight.
His Reiatsu was now more than twice that of an ordinary Lieutenant. Common Hollows couldn't withstand a single strike from him.
But more Hollows kept coming. At a glance, there were at least several thousand—perhaps even ten thousand!
The three of them could fight until nightfall and still not kill them all.
Yamamoto remained in his room practicing calligraphy, deaf to the screams outside.
He had founded the Gotei 13 to bring order to a chaotic age. These arrogant nobles were part of that chaos, and they too needed to be brought to heel!
A Hollow smashed through the Captain Commander's room. Before it could get close, Yamamoto's Reiatsu crushed it outright.
Fighting raged across Seireitei. The Soul Reapers gradually recovered from the shock, and the noble clans joined forces to barely hold off the Hollows.
"Captain! It's about time you stepped in," Yamabuki Chidori called from outside.
Yamamoto finished the last stroke of his calligraphy, rose slowly, and strode outside. He drew his Zanpakuto.
"Bankai. Zanka no Tachi!"
I got something wrong earlier. Thanks for the corrections; it's fixed now.
I Alone Shall Stand Above All
"Wait, Old Man! Don't use Bankai yet! I'm still here!" Terror flashed across Yamabuki Chidori's face. He used Flash Step again and again to get away from Yamamoto. The next instant, a terrifying pillar of fire shot into the sky. He was a fraction too slow: his hair and eyebrows caught fire, his clothes were scorched, and the heat seared his skin. A few seconds later, and he might have been roasted alive!
The instant Yamamoto unleashed his Bankai, the sky over all of Soul Society changed color. The Blazing Fire Sword turned the once-clear sky crimson, as if heaven and earth themselves had transformed!
Hollows were roasted before they could even approach the pillar of fire and fell from the sky!
Reiatsu hundreds of times more terrifying than a volcanic eruption swept across Seireitei with unstoppable force. Soul Reapers and Hollows alike stopped fighting and stared at the monster before them in utter fear.
"What... what is that?" The head of the Tsunayashiro Clan, one of the Five Noble Clans, trembled beneath that invincible Reiatsu. In his hand was Kyōten'en, the sword his clan had passed down for generations.
Now his treasured family sword felt like a firewood stick. No—it felt less useful than that!
Most Hollows had little intelligence, but the moment they sensed that overwhelming power, they fled. A huge Garganta opened in the sky, and every Hollow raced toward it, desperate to escape this terrifying place!
Yamamoto gazed coldly at the Hollows overhead. Without taking a single step, he slowly raised the Blazing Fire Sword.
He swung it once, lightly.
Flames capable of burning anything to ash engulfed the entire visible sky. Every Hollow overhead was vaporized in an instant. They died so quickly that none felt a thing!
And the Blazing Fire Sword's flames reached far beyond Seireitei!
The sky burned red. On the ground, the Soul Reapers stared up at it, unable to imagine what would happen if that strike fell on them!
All of Seireitei would be wiped from the map without a trace!
Dead silence.
Dead silence.
Nothing but dead silence.
Yamabuki Chidori swallowed with difficulty. Back when he'd watched the anime in his previous life, he had always wondered how the Old Man had defeated Yhwach and his All-Knowing All-Powerful ability a thousand years ago.
After seeing that strike, Yamabuki Chidori almost felt sorry for Yhwach!
Yhwach was incredible! He had survived the Blazing Fire Sword, even if it had left him crippled for a thousand years. Still incredible!
If Yamabuki Chidori had been even a little closer, he might have been cooked through!
Beside him, Shunshun Shidō's eyes shone with shock and admiration. That's my boss, all right. I chose well.
"I am Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain Commander of the Gotei 13! While we stand guard over Soul Society, those who attack us shall be hunted down, no matter how far they flee!"
Yamamoto's voice rang across Seireitei!
Yamamoto had already made something of a name for himself, but he was far from known to everyone. After today, there wasn't a soul in Seireitei who didn't know who Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto was.
The worship of strength was etched into human nature.
Soul Reapers were no different. Even noble blood couldn't change the DNA in their bones.
Countless Soul Reapers were already planning how to follow Yamamoto and join the Gotei 13!
"Not a bad plan," Shunshun Shidō said with a smile, looking at Yamabuki Chidori.
"Not at all! I was just helping the Captain Commander with his troubles," Yamabuki Chidori replied with a grin.
His plan was simple but effective.
In short, he had made things worse before making them better.
Take a loaf of bread.
Hand it to someone walking down the street, and they might call you a lunatic.
But wait until they had gone three or four days without food, until they were dizzy and on the verge of starving to death, and they would hail you as their savior.
The gift was the same loaf of bread. The circumstances made all the difference.
Of course, the key to the whole plan was Yamamoto's overwhelming strength.
First, Shunshun Shidō would use Hollow Lures to draw hordes of Hollows into Seireitei, causing enough chaos and destruction to make the nobles feel threatened and hopeless.
When they thought death was certain, Yamamoto would step in, save all of Seireitei, and advertise the Gotei 13 in the process.
Yamabuki Chidori had also told the Captain Commander that if he was going to act, he had to make an unforgettable impression. Ideally, he would wipe out every Hollow in a single blow.
Winning after three hundred rounds of battle and killing the enemy instantly with one strike were both victories. But which was more satisfying? Which would leave a greater impression?
To display Yamamoto's power, Yamabuki Chidori had set him one goal: turn the entire battle around with a single strike. Even if he couldn't kill every Hollow, the other Soul Reapers and nobles had to see that his power was unmatched.
The Old Man had gone even further. He had used Bankai outright.
Before you continue