At that very moment, Sōsuke Aizen stood silently behind Naruto like a phantom, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly into a proud smile befitting only a victor.
At the same time, he said slowly in a low, soft voice that nonetheless brimmed with menace, "This time, it will truly be the end."
It was as though the entire world grew solemn with those words, an invisible pressure enveloping the surroundings and stirring fear in people's hearts.
As though, at this moment, every victory and defeat had been decided, and all glory and splendor belonged to him alone.
Yet faced with such an utterly desperate predicament, Naruto showed not even the slightest trace of discouragement or dejection.
Quite the contrary, he unexpectedly burst into unrestrained laughter. "Haha, you've misjudged things again. It's not over yet!"
In the blink of an eye, a crisp, clear, and all-too-familiar pop followed, the sudden sound causing Sōsuke Aizen's expression to change drastically in an instant.
To Sōsuke Aizen, that sound was as though branded deep into his bones, instantly putting him on alert.
Looking closely, he saw that Naruto's figure, which had stood as firmly as a mountain, suddenly burst apart without any warning.
In an instant, countless wisps of white mist scattered and swirled like unbridled horses, like a flock of startled birds desperately racing in every direction.
Those smoky, misty clouds intertwined and mingled, finally coalescing into a thick, dense mass of white mist that spread at lightning speed before slowly fading into the surrounding air.
"A clone!!!"
Sōsuke Aizen inwardly cried out in alarm, an unprecedented tension and numbness-two utterly contradictory feelings-surging endlessly into his heart like raging tides.
Almost instinctively, as though driven by some mysterious force, he whipped his head around with lightning speed.
His hawk-sharp eyes locked onto