Shiraishi looked mild and easy to talk to, but at heart, he was the sort to act as soon as he made up his mind. He never dawdled or left today's business until tomorrow.
He filled his stomach, asked where the Tsunayashiro branch family was based, then went straight there using Steel Tempest E.
After searching and stopping along the way, Shiraishi arrived outside the Tsunayashiro Clan's compound half an hour later.
Looking down from above, he could see the entire layout of the compound.
Rather than the single large mansion he had imagined, the compound was practically a circular city surrounded by wheat fields, covering an area of roughly eighty-four square kilometers.
An area that large could not possibly house only the Tsunayashiro branch family. The retainers who served the branch family and the farmers who cultivated the wheat fields all lived there too.
Telling them apart was simple: one only had to look at the houses. From the thatched cottages on the outskirts to the tiled houses and elegant pavilions and towers farther in, the local power structure was easy to understand.
At that moment, lights shone like stars in the center of the compound, while not a single house on the outskirts was lit. The outer area relied entirely on the light of the stars and moon.
Even though the moonlight was beautiful, the outskirts were quiet. The farmers did not have the leisure of their noble masters.
Every day, once night fell, they would generally go straight to sleep, then rise at daybreak and begin their work in the fields. They had no nightlife to speak of.
Shiraishi's gaze passed over the outskirts and moved to the very center, where a six-story building stood.
It was roofed with luxurious golden tiles, and every floor was brightly lit, as though proclaiming the lofty status of its owner.
If nothing was amiss, the head of the branch family should be living there.
According to the information Kūkaku Shiba had provided, Takehiko Tsunayashiro was not the head of the branch family, but the current head's father.
Because he had once attempted to use a forbidden technique to obtain the power of a Hollow, he had been stripped of his position as branch family head and confined in the Maggot's Nest.
Even after the current clan head got him out, his status as a former criminal meant he could no longer serve as branch family head, so he had to let his son succeed him.
Even so, the real power in the branch family remained in Takehiko Tsunayashiro's hands.
In that case, the person living in the six-story building was most likely Takehiko Tsunayashiro.
Shiraishi decided to look there first. He leaped off the cliff and used Steel Tempest, his figure turning into a swift gust as he sped downward.
His toes touched down lightly, and he leaped over the three-meter-high wall. Instead of racing across the rooftops, he ran through the shadows beneath the eaves.
This was mainly to avoid the watchtowers built in the tiled-house district.
He quickly crossed the thatched-house district and approached the tiled-house district, where security was not as lax as it was on the outskirts.
His expanded spiritual senses let him detect the positions of souls with Spiritual Power, and the guards' patrol routes automatically took shape in his mind.
The fun instantly diminished.
Shiraishi grumbled inwardly. With his spiritual senses active, the thrill vanished, as though he were using a map hack to gain an unfair advantage.
But considering he was not playing a game, he felt caution was necessary. Boredom was better than an accident.
Shiraishi climbed over the wall between the thatched-house and tiled-house districts, avoided the watchtowers' sightlines, and continued racing forward through the shadows beneath the eaves.
Click.
What was that sound?
He stopped and looked down at the ground beneath his feet. A blue light flashed, shot upward, and formed a square frame that gave off an intense blue glow. Anyone who was not blind could see it.
A Reishi trap?
He looked somewhat surprised. It was his first time seeing a Reishi trap. He tried to lift his foot and leave, but the floor seemed to have turned into 502 superglue, holding his sneakers fast.
Clang, clang. "An intruder has entered the upper district! I repeat, an intruder has entered the upper district!"
The loud ringing of the bell echoed over the compound. Shiraishi's spiritual senses detected guards rushing toward him from every direction at great speed.
All high-ranking nobles had their own armed forces, let alone the Tsunayashiro branch family, which belonged to a great noble clan. It had secretly trained large numbers of assassins and guards, and quite a few of them were qualified to serve as Seated Officers in the Gotei 13.
The difference between them and Soul Reapers was that they had no Zanpakuto and could only use Zankensoki techniques. They were also utterly loyal to the Tsunayashiro Clan.
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" "Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"
From watchtowers a hundred meters away, guards skilled in Kidō fired at the spot beneath the blue frame, skipping the incantations.
Red and blue light attacked from the left and right.
"That's not fire at all," Shiraishi remarked. Shakkahō and Sōkatsui were clearly closer to light-wave attacks. How were they fire-based?
Even so, he had no habit of taking an enemy's skills head-on. He stamped down hard, his powerful Reiatsu shattering the floor around him, then used Steel Tempest to move forward.
As long as he escaped from here, the fact that his Reiatsu did not radiate outward would let him hide again.
Bang.
Shiraishi had not gone far before he ran into an invisible barrier. His nose stung, and he stepped back. The air seemed to solidify and grow heavy, slowing the movements of his limbs.
Was this a Kidō barrier?
Shiraishi looked around. His spiritual senses detected four people standing still at different positions, probably the ones maintaining the Kidō barrier.
Judging by their Reiatsu, they were a little weaker than the Stealth Force's Fifth Seat, but stronger than the people from outer Rukongai.
Several figures, unaffected by the barrier's slowing effect, swept toward him like ghosts.
These were all small fry.
One stroke each.
Shiraishi paid them no mind. If he killed them all and hid again, rounding things off, it would be as though he had never been exposed. It would still be perfect stealth.
Just then, a vast Reiatsu erupted from the central main building, no weaker than that of a Captain-level fighter.
It instantly drew Shiraishi's attention.
The small fry were nothing to fear, but with a Captain-level powerhouse added to the mix, things were different.
"Scattered beast bones! Spire, red crystal, and wheels of steel. What moves is the wind, what stops is the sky. The sound of spears striking one another fills the empty castle! Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
Golden lightning burst forth from afar, outshining the stars and moon and illuminating the night. In an instant, it flooded his entire field of vision like a torrent bursting through a dam.
Shiraishi did not dare be careless. He swung his blade forward.
With a roar, an invisible gale rose from the ground, forming a broad wall of wind.
The lightning struck the wind wall like water flowing slowly into a river, causing no reaction before vanishing soundlessly.
Steel Tempest. Shiraishi used the skill and followed his blade, piercing the kidney of the outermost guard. He slipped past, slapped the man flying, and neither lingered to fight nor continued forward.
His main purpose was reconnaissance, not to take down the entire Tsunayashiro branch family outright.
At least until he understood the relationship between Takehiko Tsunayashiro and Aizen, he did not want to cause such a commotion.
He would leave first, get rid of the conspicuous frame above his head, then find a way to sneak back in.
"After him! Don't let the intruder escape!" "Stop him!" "Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen!"
The commotion gradually moved away from the central area toward the outskirts.
In the corridor, Takehiko Tsunayashiro gripped the railing and watched Shiraishi leave. "The actors haven't all arrived yet. There's no need to be so impatient."