Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

Aizen and Sasuke exchanged a glance, and then sat opposite Hyosube Ichibei across the small stone table on the blue stone.

"This spring water is the work of that guy from Qilin Temple."

Hyosube Ichibei pushed two cups of tea, each emitting a strange aroma, in front of the two men, saying, "Using this to brew tea will have a calming and concentration-enhancing effect."

Aizen picked up his teacup, gently blew away the steam, and gave a perfectly timed smile of admiration: "As expected of the Zero Division, even their tea is so extraordinary."

Sasuke didn't stand on ceremony. He silently picked up the teacup and felt the warmth emanating from it.

"Alright, no need for formalities."

Hyosube Ichibei finished his tea in one gulp and looked directly at Aizen, "Then, let's start with you, Aizen Sousuke."

He placed the huge calligraphy brush across his lap and spoke calmly, in the tone of an elder asking a younger person a question.

"Tell me, what exactly do you want?"

"me?"

Upon hearing this, Aizen put down his teacup and let out a soft chuckle.

He strolled to the edge of the courtyard, looking down at the Seireitei shrouded in a sea of ​​clouds, his voice becoming impassioned.

"All I've done is try to put a justice that has long since gone astray back on track."

He turned around, opened his arms, and his white feather robe danced wildly in the wind, like a god about to ascend the throne.

"The balance of the three realms has long been corrupted. The so-called Spirit King should not be merely a puppet imprisoned here, a wedge that has long since become a dead man!"

"And the Gotei 13, which maintains this balance, and the Central 46, which establishes these rules, are nothing more than a group of cowards whose edges have long been smoothed out by stillness!"

Aizen's voice echoed above the sea of ​​clouds, brimming with confidence.

"They fear evolution, they fear change, and they call stagnation 'peace'!"

"This world is already terminally ill and needs a radical revolution to breathe new life into it!"

"And I..."

Aizen turned his head to the side, flames burning in his brown eyes, "I will ascend the throne of heaven that has been empty for ten thousand years, become the only and absolute will of the three realms, and lead this world that has long been stagnant to a higher level of evolution!"

Sasuke listened quietly, his heart unmoved.

He had already heard these words once before on the White Bridge.

But hearing Aizen say it again at this moment, that extraordinary spirit still resonated slightly within him.

After Aizen finished speaking, he turned his gaze back to Hyoninbe Ichibei.

He expected to be questioned, or even angered.

But Hyosube Ichibei just sat there quietly, without even a change in his facial expression.

"Are you done?" he asked calmly.

“…Yes.” Aizen frowned slightly; the other party’s reaction seemed somewhat different from what he had expected.

"Ah."

Hyōsuke Ichibei nodded slightly, then dipped the huge brush into a thick inkstone that had appeared beside him at some unknown time.

"Aizen."

The monk's voice was devoid of emotion: "You wish to become the heavens, and I will not object."

As he spoke, he lightly traced a line in the air in front of him with the brush tip, which was dipped in thick ink.

The jet-black ink, however, seemed to possess a life of its own, rapidly spreading and spreading in the air.

A scroll painting quietly unfolds.

The painting depicts the somber council hall of the Qingjingta Julin, where forty-six corpses lie scattered in pools of blood.

"..."

Aizen's pupils contracted slightly.

Hyosube Ichibei ignored him and turned his pen around again.

The ink flowed.

The scene then shifts, transporting us to the Soul Society a hundred years in the past.

Kensei Rokugaku, Shinji Hirako...

Familiar yet unfamiliar faces twist and struggle in blurred pain.

The culprit remained hidden in the darkness, a gentle smile on his face.

"But..."

Hyosube Ichibei's voice continued to echo softly in Aizen's heart.

The brushstroke fell for the third time.

This time, the scene shifts to the ruins of Twin Peaks Hill.

A petite figure, her face beaming with happiness, nestled into a man's arms.

Then, a cold blade mercilessly pierced through his chest.

"Aizen."

Hyosube Ichibei finally put down his pen, looked at Aizen, and gave him a kind smile.

"If you want to become the heavens, I will neither object nor stop you."

He paused, then gently touched the three ink paintings that were slowly dissipating in the air with his huge pen.

"But isn't the ink on these hands a bit too dark?"

Hyonshube Ichibei looked at Aizen's face, which was gradually losing its smile, shook his head, and let out a soft sigh.

"In this kind of weather..."

"I'm afraid it will only rain black rain."

The air seemed to have been sucked out at that moment.

This seemingly plain judgment is sharper than any blade; it does not deny Aizen's power, nor does it question his ambition.

It's just a sky that only rains black rain, a world tainted by sin.

What is the point of such evolution?

Aizen remained silent for a long time, and the gloom on his face was gradually replaced by a deeper calm.

He didn't answer Hyosube Ichibei's question, but instead turned his gaze to the black-haired boy.

"Sasuke-kun."

Aizen's voice returned to its usual gentleness. He looked at Sasuke as if he himself had not just been judged, "What are your thoughts on this issue that concerns the world?"

He wanted to see what the answer would be from this boy who had also seen through the decay of the world and even lived in another world.

Inside the courtyard, three pairs of eyes met instantly.

Sasuke put down his teacup, stood up, and walked to the edge of the courtyard, standing side by side with Aizen.

"I came here," Sasuke said calmly, his voice devoid of emotion, "to find an answer."

He turned his head, his dark eyes calmly meeting Hyosube Ichibei's gaze.

"An answer that would allow the world to maintain its balance without the need for sacrifice."

Hyosube Ichibei gave an approving smile, and his long-dormant heart was stirred at that moment.

"Hahaha...hahahahaha..."

A burst of hearty laughter echoed across the sea of ​​clouds.

"That's a brilliant answer, young man."

Hyosube Ichibei hoisted the huge brush back onto his shoulder. He neither agreed with Sasuke's statement nor denied it.

No one can judge the right or wrong of any path before it has been traversed to its end.

He walked up to Sasuke, picked up the huge brush, and dipped it in thick ink.

Then, under the solemn gazes of Aizen and Sasuke, he wrote words in the void before him.

【reason】

The pitch-black ink burned silently in the air, emitting no heat, yet it seemed to suck in one's soul.

"Your name is Uchiha Sasuke."

Hyobu Ichibei looked at Sasuke, his voice becoming serious.

"But the path you are pursuing still lacks a real name."

"Today, I, the old man, in the power of naming all things, bestow upon it its true name."

He pointed the massive tip of his pen at Sasuke, his voice piercing the soul.

“Your name is [Li].”

"Go, young man from another world."

Hyōsuke Ichibei looked into those dark eyes and smiled expectantly.

Go find your own reason.

"When you find it and carry it through to the end..."

He paused, a glint of shrewdness appearing in his eyes.

"If your reasoning is sufficient to transcend all existing principles in this world..."

"So, whether it's this corrupt order or that throne of heaven that has been empty for millennia..."

"You can change it as you please."

As soon as he finished speaking, the jet-black character "理" (reason/principle) transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into Sasuke's brow.

Sasuke felt a warm current flow into his soul, as if something had resonated deeply with his own existence.

"Alright, now that I've shown you the way..."