‘Even Unohana left in the end.’

Sitting on the main chair as he listened to Jushiro report the situation, Yamamoto threw a look at Isane who was taking the place of Unohana as the representative of the 4th division in the current conference.

The fact that his oldest friend had left him in the lurch brought much bitterness to Yamamoto. However, there was nothing he could do about it.

After all, it was her own choice.

His thoughts were interrupted by Shunsui.

“Yama-ji, there is something we need to take care of. What is the status of those who left the Gotei 13?”

Yamamoto frowned before shaking his head,  “We will consider them as deserters to be captured and judged if captured.”

Yamamoto lazily waved his hand. All of this was nothing more than a way to placate the Central 46. 

Deserter or not, it was impossible for the current Gotei 13 to face Gojo’s force for two simple reasons.

On one side, most of the members who left with him were respected captains in their own squads, and the way Gojo handled Aizen and his two accomplices made him a hero in the eyes of the shinigami.

But more importantly, the current Gojo’s cards were simply too powerful. 

Gojo Satoru.

Retsu Unohana.

Zaraki Kenpachi.

Soi Fon

Yoruichi Shihoin.

Just those five alone, all of which were comparable to high-tier captains at the least were enough of a headache.

As if it wasn’t enough, from the presence of Yoruichi, it was clear that Gojo was linked to the Shinigami who went through Hollowfication, out of which four were once captains, as well as Kisuke Urahara who was also a captain, and Tessai who was the commander of the Kido Corps.

A grand total of 11 captain-ranked Shinigami and a few more vice captain-level ones. In a way, this was no different from the recreation of the 13th Blades of yesteryear helmed by Yamamoto himself.

If they really went on war against them without enough legitimate reasons, all it would bring would be useless bloodshed and the weakening of the Shinigami as a whole.

It didn’t help that the current Gotei 13 was at its weakest ever.

“Commandant, I believe this is the perfect occasion to accept my Shinigami substitute proposal.”

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow before asking, “Do you have someone already in mind?”

“No, and even if I did, I would take my time to ensure their trustworthiness and place measure. I sincerely believe that this will be a new way for us to ensure peace in the human world and reduce the number of cases of humans and Plus being devoured by the Hollows.”

“If no Captain is against the proposal, then it will be accepted.”

Silence greeted his question, which Yamamoto took as approval.

“Very well, you can now make preparation for your plan.”

“Understood.”

‘I wonder if I am becoming too old.’

Yamamoto sighed inwardly at the clear happiness on Jushiro’s face before giving another look at Shunsui. 

Until now, Yamamoto had never considered retiring because he considered that no one could replace him. But now, after the previous events, a subtle feeling of tiredness grew in his heart.

Perhaps it was time to prepare his own substitute soon.

—

[Human world]

“Now what’s the plan?”

“Hum…Nothing.”

Lazily lying down in the back of Kisuke’s house, Gojo answered Soi Fon without looking up, prompting her to frown.

“Be serious.”

“I am being serious.”

He changed his position to look at her directly.

“Think about it, in the hundred of years you lived, was it ever so peaceful? Why not enjoy it for now?”

Soi Fon shook her head, “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I very much am. In fact, this is an order. For the next twenty or so years, I forbid you from doing anything related to fighting.”

“What!? What do you want me to do then?”

“I don’t know? Ask Kisuke a Gigai and live your life. Become a teacher, a Sportif, go on an adventure and explore the world. In short, live the way you want to.”

Soi Fon fell silent as she thought deeply about Gojo’s words before she stood up and left.

“I will think about it.”

Smiling at her departing back, Gojo once again closed his eyes and bathed under the sun.

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like he was simply sun-bathing, but the truth was that his brain was currently going on overdrive.

It had been a few days now since he took Unohana with him and everything should have been alright.

However his instincts keep screaming at him, as if he had missed an important detail. Something extremely crucial that he might have missed in the heat of the moment.

The fact that he couldn’t find exactly what he was missing was bothering him so much he couldn’t even sleep for the last few days.

‘Perhaps, is it Aizen?’

He generally stopped caring about people he already killed since a dead enemy was of no importance but, now that he thought about it, there was something that really bothered him.

Aizen had been too weak.

On that day, Gin nearly killed Soi Fon and Kaname showed incredible prowess with his hollow-like transformation.

Out of the three, Aizen was supposed to be far much stronger than them but such an individual lost so badly against him?

Gojo knew he was strong. But it should have been impossible to corner a top-level captain like Aizen without even suffering a wound.

If one did not take into account the last explosion…

‘The explosion!!’

Gojo’s eyes widened in shock.

The measure of engraving the spell of that Kido on his body meant that Aizen was already prepared to kill himself from the start.

But would someone who plans to become a god really be so humble and suicidal? 

Furthermore, putting such marking meant that Aizen already had an inkling that something would happen during the election. But then, why would he even bother to come at all?

Would someone as smart as Aizen not prepare safety measures?

Finally and most importantly, during all the fight…Aizen never used his Zanpakuto. 

Not even once.

Following those clues, Gojo conjured a bold conclusion.

Such an idea should be outlandish and completely unreasonable. However, with Gojo’s experience in the past, he knew that evil bastards like this never went into a bad situation without a failsafe.

He was sure of it.

That bastard was alive.

—

“I wonder how long it will take them to realize what they fought was a fake.”

Looking at a horde of hollows as they worked on breaking the mask of another one, a brown-haired man clad in white murmured as he gently traced the eyepatch that was hiding his now missing eyes.

“Aizen-sama, it was another failure.”

Aizen hummed nonchalantly. 

‘I guess Aaroniero Arruruerie was really the result of a freak incident. It’s impossible for a normal Gillian to reach such a level.’

Neither Gin nor Tosen even knew that the Aizen they went back to the Soul Society with was not the real one.

At the same time, it wasn’t an illusion either.

Aaroniero Arruruerie. An interesting hollow who was born with an uncanny ability called Gluttony.

Unlike normal hollows who only receive a limited amount of power from what they ate, Aaroniero could not only absorb all the Reiatsu of those he devoured but also obtain all their skills and even their appearance.

 

That hollow was a special hollow that could reproduce the power of those he ate. In terms of pure potential, he was the highest Aizen had ever seen and could have without a doubt become a Vasto Lorde given enough time.

‘It’s such a shame that I had to sacrifice him.’

Since Aizen had an inkling that things would go wrong soon in the Soul Society, he sacrificed his eye and had Aaroniero eat it.

Even though with only an eye the amount of power he could bring was quite limited, it was still enough to pass off as a fake and play the Kamikaze.

Of course, Aizen did not think this would be enough to dazzle them for long. He was sure that Kisuke would deduce that he was alive sooner or later. The same was possible for Gojo since he had quite abnormal eyes.

Still, thst didn’t matter, he had already managed his goal.

"Now that the only one who can potentially see through my illusions is gone, the Soul Society will once again become my back garden.”

Gojo thought that he could trap him, but how could he have imagined that his victory wouldn’t be as complete as imagined?

“Well, then. This first game of chess ended in my win, I guess.”

Aizen smiled gleefully as he walked back into Las Noches. It was time for him to prepare a new plan.

Sooner or later, he would reach his goal and absolutely no one, not even Gojo or Kisuke, would stop him from succeeding.

(AN: Thus end this volume. Hope you liked it.)