Bleach: No cheat codes, he joined Aizen's side.

Chapter 12. A Heartwarming Employee, A Heartless Boss
Hueco Mundo, Las Noches Palace, underground laboratory.

The battle just now had no effect on anything here. The chief scientist of the Hollows, Szayelaporro Granz, was concentrating on his research.

Meanwhile, another male Shinigami dressed in a Shinigami uniform sat elegantly at a wine-red solid wood desk, looking at the research report in his hands.

"Lord Aizen!"

Higashino Shuichi pushed open the door and walked in, going straight to the desk opposite him and bowing to the male Grim Reaper.

"You already have the strength to deal with Barragan?"

Aizen didn't even raise his head before asking a question.

"No, you know my strength, Aizen-sama. To deal with Barragan, I would need to either develop a Bankai specifically for him or overwhelm him with spiritual pressure. Both of these are difficult for me right now. What I just did was just an act. Otherwise, if I were to be attacked like this every time I came to Hueco Mundo, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it."

Higashino Shuichi stated the truth.

He didn't need to hide anything from Aizen, since he was now firmly on Aizen's side, and concealing anything would do him no good.

He only dared to pretend to activate his Bankai because he discovered that Stark was nearby, because he knew that Aizen would never allow him to activate his Bankai so openly in Hueco Mundo.

After all, there are Shinigami expedition teams stationed in Hueco Mundo, and in the past month, due to the previous noble hunting incident, the Shinigami have intensified their crackdown on Hollows. There's no doubt that there might be Shinigami familiar with Shuichi Higashino's spiritual pressure nearby.

After listening to Higashino Shuichi's explanation, Aizen looked up at Higashino Shuichi and then changed the subject, "Tell me about your feelings during the last hunt."

Upon hearing this, Higashino Shuichi immediately perked up. He knew that Aizen didn't care much about Barragan's actions, or rather, in Aizen's eyes, Barragan was not much different from Kensei Muguruma—both were people who could be crushed with one hand. Therefore, whatever Barragan did was just child's play to him. If Higashino Shuichi was really killed because of Barragan, it would only mean that Higashino Shuichi was not worthy of being Aizen's subordinate.

"The Gotei 13 is still powerful. Not to mention the Captain-Commander who has always been stationed in Seireitei and has never taken action, this time, just the six captains alone forced Barragan and Stark to retreat."

Furthermore, based on my observations, neither the 8th Division Captain Kyoraku Shunsui nor the 2nd Division Captain Shihouin Yoruichi used their full strength. The other captains, such as the 9th Division Captain Muguruma Kensei, the 11th Division Captain Oniganjo Kenpachi, the 5th Division Captain Hirako Shinji, and the 3rd Division Captain Kamikawa Rennosuke, also seemed to have failed to display their expected fighting prowess.

Higashino Shuichi replied.

All of the above are the results he actually observed through the spirit doll. As for the true strength of each captain, he naturally could not say it, because that would be inconsistent with his status.

"Stark's conclusion to me afterward was the same, especially regarding Yoruichi Shihouin, whom he fought. He believed that the latter must still have hidden trump cards that she hadn't revealed."

Aizen put down the research report in his hand and said.

Higashino Shuichi quickly glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and discovered that it was Szayelaporro's research on the soul.

It seems that Szayelaporro had already begun his research on the soul at this point in time, and it's likely that his "older brother," Ilford Granz, would be born soon.

From this, Higashino Shuichi can further deduce that Aizen likely targeted the souls of ordinary people with Shinigami potential because of Szayelaporro's research findings in this area.

Otherwise, his previous research had only remained at the superficial level of the spiritual particles.

"Do you need my help to test the waters?"

"Higashino Shuichi asked. He knew that Aizen would never speak without reason unless he was speaking to ordinary Shinigami who were unaware of the truth."

Especially with him, he's the type to say as little as possible, and he's always very pretentious.

"We should test the waters, but not with Yoruichi Shihouin."

Aizen shook his head slightly.

"That is?"

Although Higashino asked the question aloud, he already had the answer in his heart.

Who else could it be? Kensei Muguruma is the recognized unit of measurement for captain's combat strength. Shinji Hirako is Aizen's own captain, so he must have been figured out long ago. The others are basically people who have fought a lot, so it's easy to know their true level. That leaves only the usually carefree and rarely seen Captain Kyoraku Shunsui of the 8th Division, Captain Unohana Retsu of the 4th Division who only takes care of the wounded and doesn't go to the battlefield, and Captain Ukitake Jushiro of the 13th Division who is weak and sickly all year round and "unfit for great responsibilities".

Needless to say, Retsu Unohana worked under him for almost seventy years, yet no one could find any useful clues from him to report to Aizen. Jushiro Ukitake, on the other hand, was practically invisible.

Therefore, the answer is only that one person.
"Captain of the Eighth Division, Kyoraku Shunsui."

Aizen said it casually.

Throughout the entire Soul Society, he had indeed only regarded Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, the captain-commander of the Gotei 13, who was known as the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years, as a threat. However, to completely change this corrupt world, simply dealing with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni was not enough at the moment.

In particular, he didn't know the true strength of the other captain-level Grim Reapers. What if they were different?
Therefore, while pursuing how to break the shackles of the Shinigami and thus completely surpass all the Shinigami in the Soul Society, Aizen also planned to thoroughly investigate the captains of the Soul Society.

This was originally his task, but a few years ago, he accidentally saw an experimental record that had not been completely destroyed from an interesting Shinigami, which made him extremely interested in the research topic of Shinigami Hollowfication.

As it happens, Higashino Shuichi is a very easy subordinate to use, so Aizen plans to increase Higashino Shuichi's strength.

"Understood, Lord Aizen. I will complete the mission as soon as possible!"

Higashino Hideichi did not offer any objections, because he knew that any boss would like to hear their employees agree to any request unconditionally, even if the request was outrageous to the employee.

There's nothing we can do about it; he's an excellent employee who dotes on his boss.

For Higashino Shuichi, this matter was much simpler than asking him to spar with Barragan or similar requests.

However, Higashino Shuichi's secret joy lasted less than a second before Aizen's next two sentences left him speechless.

"I remember you told me you had a seven-day vacation this time?"

"Yes, Lord Aizen, what are your plans?"

"This time, Soul Society sent a captain and an expedition team to Hueco Mundo to fight against them. The other two captains don't need to go back."

(End of this chapter)