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

Chapter 32. Go and confront them.

The story goes back many years, to a time when Shuichi Higashino had just started working for Aizen. After Aizen easily conquered Hueco Mundo, he discovered that the Hollows were all showy but ineffective, far less powerful and dangerous than he had heard from the Shinigami in Soul Society.

Therefore, Aizen, who originally thought he could discover a new blue ocean, suddenly lost his curiosity about Hueco Mundo.

Turning his head, Aizen turned his attention back to the Shinigami.

At that time, Aizen firmly believed that only by further exploring the power of the Shinigami themselves, until reaching that unfathomable depth, could he possibly surpass Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's great achievement.

Therefore, he decided to use Higashino Shuichi's Zanpakuto Shikai ability, "The Weapon Master," as a blueprint to develop a Hollow ability that could steal spiritual particles from Shinigami instead of directly absorbing them, thus facilitating his research.

However, after this ability was developed and put into use only a few times, Higashino Shuichi realized that there was a major drawback: Shinigami were not ordinary people in Rukongai. The death of any Shinigami would attract the attention of the Gotei 13, thus strengthening the defenses for that period of time.

This made Aizen's efficiency in acquiring Shinigami Spirit Particles extremely low at the time.

Therefore, in order to demonstrate his value, Higashino Shuichi took the initiative to propose to Aizen that the latter improve this ability to steal spiritual particles so that Higashino Shuichi could use it without Shikai Zanpakuto. At the same time, Higashino Shuichi took the initiative to apply to the captain of the 10th Division at the time to be transferred from the 10th Division to the 4th Division, so as to take advantage of the 4th Division as a healing division and make it easier to extract the spiritual particles of the Shinigami.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that his plan could proceed smoothly under the noses of the Fourth Division members (mainly Retsu Unohana), Shuichi Higashino also shared another idea with Aizen at the time: to reduce the amount of spirit particles taken each time, so as not to affect the normal actions of the Shinigami whose spirit particles were taken.

In this way, although the number of spirit particles taken from each Shinigami is reduced, the advantage is that it can be a steady stream. Given the turnover rate of Shinigami in Soul Society, a large number of ordinary Shinigami will likely suffer at least one blow from Higashino Shuichi.

It was precisely because of Higashino Shuichi's suggestion that Retsu Unohana discovered this problem nearly ten years ago due to an accident, but she was never able to grasp the key point and confirm what caused the defects in those Grim Reapers.

It wasn't until two years ago, when she happened to see the fourth seat of the 12th Division, Hiyori Sarugaki, flipping through past files and looking for cases to practice on, that she discovered some clues from the file in Hiyori Sarugaki's hands, which was from decades ago. Following the clues, she began to suspect Shuichi Higashino.

Unfortunately, she had only just begun to have doubts when a casual promise she made to Yamada Seinosuke startled Higashino Shuichi, the snake in the snake.

Even now, Retsu Unohana only has suspicions about Shuichi Higashino, but she can't produce any evidence at all.

Therefore, Aizen said that Unohana Retsu's current contradictory attitude is, in a sense, thanks to Higashino Shuichi's caution back then. Otherwise, if he had revealed even a little more information, Unohana Retsu would not be in this state now.

It's even possible that Retsu Unohana would have challenged Shuichi Higashino two years ago.

Of course, none of the above information was said by Aizen to Higashino Shuichi in person, but rather Higashino Shuichi analyzed the information Aizen gave him.

For Aizen, finding out what Retsu Unohana had done in the past was not difficult at all; the young female Shinigami of the Fourth Division simply couldn't resist Aizen's damn charm.

"But Lord Aizen, even so, I believe that Captain Unohana's existence is still a hidden danger. Although she hasn't taken any direct action against me yet, her suspicion of me won't disappear. If this continues, unless I stop working for you, there will definitely be problems!"

Putting down the documents, Higashino Shuichi spoke with concern to Aizen across from him.

If possible, Higashino Shuichi wouldn't mind if Aizen found a way to get rid of the troublesome Unohana Retsu.

Anyway, he may have had some feelings for most of the characters in the original work, but after living in the world of Bleach for more than a hundred years, those feelings have long faded.

Now, Higashino Shuichi prioritizes his own safety above all else; only when this premise is met will he allow himself to invest any emotion in those people.

Clearly, Unohana Retsu does not meet this prerequisite at this time.

Unfortunately, Aizen, as the mastermind behind the scheme, had just killed two captains of Soul Society, thoroughly enraging the Central 46, and with several captains still hunting Barragan in Hueco Mundo, he did not want to cause any more trouble.

"Then let's confront her!" Aizen said calmly.

However, Higashino Shuichi didn't interpret these words the same way.

"I don't quite understand what you mean, Lord Aizen."

This time, Higashino Shuichi was truly bewildered; once again, he couldn't figure out what Aizen was up to.

"There's no way to deal with Unohana Retsu in a short time, so it's easy to resolve this problem. Just find her and tell her you want to become the captain of the 10th Division, and see how determined she is."

If Retsu Unohana is as determined to keep an eye on you as Shinji Hirako, then you'll need to change your approach to work from now on.
But if not, you have more than enough time and experience to be a team leader!

Aizen explained to Higashino Shuichi.

Higashino Shuichi stood opposite him, his feelings complicated.

Having said all that, it's hard for Shuichi Higashino not to suspect that when Aizen had them eliminate the two captains in Hueco Mundo, he had already planned for him to fill that gap now.

It's even possible that this plan was already conceived in Aizen's mind before the earlier hunting incident.

Did Aizen have his eye on the captain's position all along?

After thinking about it carefully, Higashino Shuichi realized that it was indeed possible.

However, the captains of the 13th Division of the Gotei 13 have always been a one-person-one-position system. If the previous one doesn't leave, the next one, even if strong, can't take the position, except for the 11th Division. But the 11th Division doesn't fit Higashino Shuichi's character, so Aizen can't let Higashino Shuichi replace the captain of the 11th Division.

He himself has always been closely watched by Hirako Shinji. Let alone becoming a captain, if his strength suddenly increases significantly one day, Hirako Shinji might take action without saying a word.

Furthermore, unless there are special circumstances, the captains of the Gotei 13 would not easily leave Soul Society.

It's important to understand that killing a captain in Soul Society is on a completely different level in terms of difficulty and consequences compared to killing a captain in Hueco Mundo or the Human World.

Therefore, Aizen's proposal of this solution is probably a natural response to the current situation.

Is Retsu Unohana a nuisance to Aizen?
Definitely not. Retsu Unohana only posed a threat to Shuichi Higashino.

So he could take this opportunity to both test whether he could achieve his goal and use Higashino Shuichi to gauge Unohana Retsu's capabilities.

Kill two birds with one stone.

It was just tough on Higashino Shuichi.

If Aizen doesn't understand Retsu Unohana, how could Shuichi Higashino not understand?
There was absolutely no way that Retsu Unohana would let him leave her sight.

He will surely take good care of himself, just as Hirako Shinji "cared" for Aizen.

In other words, a one-sided battle is inevitable.

(End of this chapter)