The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

Kisuke Urahara habitually scratched his head, making his already messy blond hair even messier, and then gave a flippant smile that didn't seem threatening.

"Please please please!"

Aizen seemed genuinely unconcerned about the boastful boy. After nodding slightly in thanks, he looked at the timid and timid Yutu, whose tall frame had shrunk even smaller, and gave her a gentle smile that he hadn't shown in a long time.

"Jade Rabbit, please come with me. Teacher Kamikawa is already waiting for you."

The tall girl shrank back in fear, hesitated for a moment with trembling hands, then nodded gently as if resigned to her fate, and followed Aizen out of the dojo without a word.

On the way to the teachers' office, Aizen seemed to be trying to ease his junior's tension by chatting with her.

"Jade Rabbit, what do you think is true suffering?"

Occasionally, other students would pass by the two of them. When several girls heard Aizen's question, their maternal instincts almost overflowed. They felt that Aizen-senpai must be grieving over Hayato-senpai's sacrifice. They looked at Tamato with disappointment and urged her to say something nice to comfort Aizen-senpai.

However, the Jade Rabbit, who was suddenly spoken to, became even more nervous. She shrank back, not daring to lift her head, and stared intently at the floor beneath her feet, as if she would fall if she did not.

Aizen didn't mind the Jade Rabbit's silence. After waiting a while, he answered his own question.

"In my opinion, true suffering isn't about not being able to ask for help when facing hardship, but rather having no one to ask for help at all. Junior Sister Jade Rabbit, are you suffering right now?"

Upon hearing this question, the Jade Rabbit suddenly looked up as if stung. Her expression seemed to be a loud rebuttal, but the voice she uttered was still as light as a breeze.

“I have people I can turn to for help. I will hug them and cry my heart out, telling them all my grievances! So, I am not in pain!”

Are there really more than one of them?

Aizen nodded in understanding, stopped, and opened the office door.

"We've arrived. Let's go inside, Jade Rabbit."

Yu Tu took a deep breath and walked into the teachers' office. She greeted Ms. Kamikawa, who was sitting at her desk, in a low voice. However, strangely, perhaps because her voice was too soft, Ms. Kamikawa continued to focus on grading the papers and did not look up at all.

Jade Rabbit's heart tightened, and she turned around abruptly, only to see that Aizen had already closed the office door and drawn his Zanpakuto. His lips were slightly parted, as if he was about to utter the release phrase of his Zanpakuto. Without thinking, Jade Rabbit immediately closed her eyes and retreated rapidly.

"...That's surprising. So that gentleman already knew about my Zanpakuto's abilities? But he never seemed to have warned Hayato-kun about it."

However, Aizen did not release his Zanpakuto. He simply held the sword casually in his hand, looked at the pillar where the Jade Rabbit was hiding, and chuckled as he spoke.

"Jade Rabbit, are you starting to feel pain now?"

Chapter 149 Growth

The five teachers in the office continued with their own tasks, some drinking tea, others reading, seemingly completely unaware of Aizen and the Jade Rabbit's presence.

Aizen still wore a warm smile on his face, seemingly not intending to use violence against Yutu. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the door.

"Let's have a chat, Jade Rabbit."

With a gentle voice that seemed to possess a captivating charm, Aizen spoke slowly and deliberately, as if telling a story.

"Hayato's death is regrettable. In my opinion, he, like most of the students here, was not mature enough and was not ready to become an adult. He was just a young and immature boy who was not suitable for carrying out dangerous infiltration missions."

"As for Jade Rabbit, compared to Hayato, you are obviously much younger. If Hayato is a big boy, then you are just a child who hasn't grown up yet. I don't know why you came here. Perhaps your companions told you that independence is the first step to growing up, and only by completing this task can you truly become an adult."

"But adults are pitiful. Adults can no longer rely on others, they can no longer act spoiled, and they can only endure their grievances on their own. In my opinion, children should enjoy their childhood and there is no need for them to grow up early."

Aizen always possesses a unique aura. Although he is in this world, he seems to be an observer who is independent of it, and he can always see through many things and many people with unparalleled clarity.

Previously, he had seen through the pain of the Jade Rabbit being in the Soul Society, feeling tense and fearful at every moment, yet unable to ask anyone for help. He concluded that the Jade Rabbit was different from Hayato and could not contact the people behind him at any time.

At this moment, he once again saw through the Jade Rabbit's weakness.

As Aizen said, although she was already a Hollow before she became an Arrancar, in terms of her mind, Tamamo was far from mature, and she did not want to mature. She still longed for companions and wanted to rely on others, just like before.

Listening to Aizen's story, Yutu slowly walked out from behind the pillar with a face full of unease. Separated by several desks and two teachers, she looked at Aizen timidly from a distance. Her mouth opened several times, as if she wanted to say something to refute or argue, but in the end, she couldn't say a word.

Seeing that the Jade Rabbit was willing to face him, Aizen's smile became even gentler, and his whole being seemed to radiate a healing aura.

"Jade Rabbit, you've been in the Central Academy for three years now, and you've seen me and Hayato together more than once. You should know very well how I get along with my companions. Today, if you take the initiative to take a step and come to my side, becoming my companion, I will be by your side every day in the future, whenever you feel wronged, scared, or sad."

"You must be feeling very uneasy right now, unsure if I'm deceiving you, after all, you've already experienced betrayal once. So, let's define our relationship in a different way."

“You can think of this as a transaction. What you need to give up is your trust in me, and what I can give you in return is my companionship until the end of my life. I don’t make promises lightly, and therefore, I will never break my promise.”

Aizen's smile, tinged with arrogance, made people even more convinced that such a proud person would not break his promise.

At the same time, Aizen used calm language to lightly describe the people behind the Jade Rabbit as traitors, further amplifying the Jade Rabbit's sense of isolation.

This time, the Jade Rabbit did not vehemently refute him.

Weak people are easily swayed by the words of others.

As the Jade Rabbit's expression gradually relaxed, and it even carefully sat down on a chair to express goodwill, Aizen felt a little annoyed.

For the past five years, even while being controlled by Kyoka Suigetsu and spending time alone with everyone he might have a connection with in the illusion, Hayato has not revealed any valuable information. This has aroused Aizen's great interest in Hayato and the person behind him, making finding out who is behind him a somewhat challenging game.

Judging from Yu Tu's reaction, the person behind the scenes might not be as clever as he imagined. If he put in a little more effort, he could easily get this second undercover agent to betray the person behind the scenes and extract the necessary information from her.

Hayato may not have revealed any information simply because he genuinely knew nothing.

Realizing that the game he had patiently played for five years was not as difficult as he had thought, and that he could reach the ending with just a little push, Aizen immediately lost interest in continuing.

If Aizen weren't used to seeing things through to the end, he would have even wanted to kill this completely incompetent undercover agent in front of him and stop bothering with the so-called mastermind.

Anyway, he's just a clown.

Suppressing his annoyance, Aizen smiled again and slowly reached out towards the Jade Rabbit.

"I respect your choice, please consider it carefully..."

Aizen was speaking when he saw the Jade Rabbit sitting opposite him suddenly plummet and disappear from the office. He was stunned for a moment, then a genuine smile appeared on his face. He walked briskly around the desks and teachers blocking his way and walked to where the Jade Rabbit had just been sitting. Upon closer inspection, his smile widened even further.

Before Aizen's eyes, a large hole had been dug out of the wooden floor at some point, and a lot of soil had been dug out from under the floor, forming a hole large enough for a person to jump into. Inside the hole, there was even a horizontal tunnel.

Human thinking is always bound by inertia. Aizen, who was used to achieving his goals through spiritual power, never imagined that a powerful quasi-Shinigami, when faced with danger, would choose not Kido, not swordsmanship, not Shunpo, not Hakuta, but rather the simple, purely physical method of digging a hole.

"Things seem to be getting interesting again."

Aizen finally couldn't help but chuckle softly, a hint of anticipation appearing in his eyes, before turning and walking out of the teachers' office. Although he wasn't sure if the other party would reveal his Zanpakuto's abilities, he still needed to complete the hypnosis of the entire school as soon as possible. And that blond freshman who could sense the abnormality in the Jade Rabbit's spiritual power also needed close observation.

While Aizen was laughing happily, in the cave, Yutu finally couldn't help but burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. But no matter how hard she cried, she didn't slow down her digging at all.

When Gu Shi asked her what her special skills were, she demonstrated how to curl up into a ball and admit defeat, bowing with her front paws and begging for mercy while secretly digging a hole with her hind paws. Gu Shi thought her special skills were useless, and Erlang even mocked her. Now her special skills have come in handy!

Even though Aizen was in such danger, she still stood straight in front of him, using a desk as cover, and dug an escape tunnel with her feet! Who dares to say her special skill is useless? Her special skill is the most useful!

[When I get back, I absolutely, positively will make Erlang apologize to me! If he dares to yell at me again, I'll, I'll, I'll dig a hole under his feet every day so he can't walk properly!]

Aizen was right. The inherently weak-willed Jade Rabbit was indeed unwilling and afraid to grow up. She was afraid from the bottom of her heart of being able to stand on her own and not rely on others. But growth always happens unexpectedly, and no one can refuse to grow up.

The moment that timid big rabbit mustered all its courage to crawl out of the ground and appear before Gu Shi and the others, trembling as it offered to help find the stone, its growth had already begun.

Chapter 150 The Vanished Century

"It's alright, it's alright, you're safe now."

Gu Shi gently comforted the Jade Rabbit, who was sobbing with her face buried in his. Just imagining the scene of this usually timid little guy being cornered in the room by Aizen made him feel heartbroken.

Therefore, even though the Jade Rabbit was lying on his face with tears streaming down its face, and the sticky feeling was a headache, he still tried his best to use all his gentleness to comfort the poor little guy.

Beside him, Tianpeng's expression was somewhat complicated, a mixture of heartache and disdain. He kept muttering something under his breath, saying things like, "It's good that the Jade Rabbit can speak in riddles," and then complaining, "What a snob! I had already comforted her."

Today, Tianpeng was methodically refining pills at the camp, testing his ideas for improving the pill formula, when suddenly a black hole opened directly in her face. Then, Yutu ran out of it while crying loudly. She was startled and quickly comforted Yutu while asking the Holy Son to call Gu Shi over.

When Gu Shi arrived, Yu Tu had already calmed down considerably thanks to Tian Peng's comforting words. She had stopped wailing and was only sobbing softly. However, as soon as she saw Gu Shi, the grievances in her heart suddenly resurfaced. She jumped more than 30 meters into the air, spread her limbs wide, hugged Gu Shi's face, and began a second round of crying.

Tianpeng thought about how she had just tried so hard to comfort her, hugging and patting her head, and how much effort she had put in, only to have Yutu decisively abandon her and run into someone else's arms as soon as Gu Shi arrived. She couldn't help but feel a little resentful, always feeling that Yutu was playing a role for her.

The slightly chaotic atmosphere lasted for a while. The Jade Rabbit seemed to have finally run out of tears and awkwardly climbed off Gu Shi's face. Gu Shi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly mobilized his spiritual power to wash away the wetness from his face.

Having learned from Jade Rabbit's experience, Gu Shi has no plans to send any more spies into Soul Society for the time being.

After all, while the flaws in the appearance of the Arrancar can be concealed through certain means to prevent people from seeing the void and mask fragments, the fact that their spiritual power is too violent and makes it difficult to use Kido is something that is hard to change.

For a long time to come, Aizen will likely focus on those new students whose spiritual power is violent, who are unable to use Kido, and who are naturally strong in physical strength. Sending spies at this time would simply be feeding Aizen meat.

Anyway, the knowledge recorded in the Shinigami Library has been basically exhausted, so we can just focus on development for now.

but……

It seems a bit strange that Kisuke Urahara has already enrolled in the Central Academy of Dramatic Art at this point in time.

In the original storyline, Aizen himself said that he first noticed Kisuke Urahara after he had already created the half-finished Hogyoku. Now, these two have already met during their student days because of the Jade Rabbit. Won't there be any problems?

Aizen's ability to disguise himself was ridiculously strong. In the original story, apart from Shinji Hirako, no one in the entire Seireitei noticed anything unusual about him. Even the Captain-Commander Zaraki Kenpachi, who had seen countless people and whose beastly instincts were ridiculously strong, was fooled by him. It would be fair to say that his acting skills had been tested by the whole world.

Even the cautious Kisuke Urahara, though he sensed someone was after the half-finished Hogyoku in the story, never suspected Aizen until Aizen revealed his identity on the night he attacked Shinji Hirako and the others, at which point he realized Aizen was an extremely dangerous person.

Now, these two will be spending at least another year together at the Shinigami Academy. Urahara Kisuke is far less mature than when he was a captain. If Aizen notices Urahara Kisuke's talent and intends to befriend him...

Aizen Sousuke and Urahara Kisuke became close friends since their student days. Wow, isn't that just too hellish?

Thinking further, Kisuke Urahara is actually quite proud, and he has a considerable tendency to take risks. Even dangerous individuals like Mayuri Kurotsuchi, because of his outstanding research talent, Urahara dared to pull him out of the maggot's nest to be his assistant, confident that he could control him.

Aizen was actually very talented in research, and he created a half-finished Hogyoku all by himself.

If the two had known each other since their student days, even if Kisuke Urahara vaguely sensed something unusual about Aizen, he would probably still be confident that he could control Aizen when faced with a problem, and boldly invite Aizen to participate in his project and become a partner in the joint research of the Hogyoku.

If things really turn out this way, Aizen would probably be able to ambush Kisuke Urahara a hundred years before the so-called start of the story, get the half-finished Hogyoku from him, and then fuse it with the half he had to obtain the complete Hogyoku, right?

One hundred years before the story begins, eighty or ninety years before Yhwach awakens, and before the protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki is even born, Aizen obtains the complete Hogyoku at this point in time...

Could it be that they can really storm into the Spirit King's Palace, dismantle the Spirit King's remains, and ascend the throne of Heaven?

After all, although the Zero Division, which guards the Soul King Palace, has a great reputation and is said to be as strong as the entire Gotei 13 combined, and it seems that any one of them is stronger than Yamamoto, in the end, these people are not known for their combat strength. They were selected for the Zero Division based on their "merits".

Before joining the team, Kiryu Hikifune was just the captain of the 12th Division under Yamamoto. Before joining the team, Shutara Senjumaru wasn't even a captain. Even after entering the Spirit King Palace, their abilities were corrected and their bones were made into King Keys, giving them abilities similar to immortality. But to say that they are stronger than Yamamoto is pure nonsense.

In Gu Shi's view, this is like how, after Lü Bu died in the Three Kingdoms period, everyone thought they were no less than Lü Bu. After Shan Laotou died, everyone dared to claim that they were stronger than Shan Laotou, but everyone knew the truth.

If Aizen in his complete form were to actually enter the Soul King's Palace, expecting these few Miao people to repel him would be worse than hoping he would die from food poisoning.

Gu Shi shuddered involuntarily, a sudden sense of urgency rising in his heart. The preparation time he had thought he had plenty of time seemed to have been shortened by a full hundred years.

Are there any other ways to accelerate the accumulation of strength?

When such a thought arose in Gu Shi's mind, his gaze involuntarily fell on Yu Tu's waist, where a long sword hung loosely.

Is this a shallow katakana?

The topic suddenly shifted to knives, and the Jade Rabbit paused for a moment before nodding vigorously.

"Yes, this is an Asauchi. Shortly after we entered the Shinigami Academy, the teacher gave each of us one, saying that it was a temporary loan and we only had the right to use it. It would be officially given to us when we officially joined the 13th Division."