Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

"The Invisible Empire has been lurking in the shadows, waiting for the '999-year' deadline to arrive."

Sasuke looked at the shadow beneath his feet, lost in thought, when the space behind him began to distort.

"Wait a moment."

Longxian suddenly called out to him.

"Is there anything else?" Sasuke turned his head to the side.

Longxian stared at Sasuke's back, hesitated for a long time, but ultimately did not reveal the secret about the "silver clot".

"Don't die too horribly."

"Oh."

Sasuke chuckled softly, his figure disappearing into the dark vortex.

..........

Soul Society, Seireitei.

The fifth division team building.

Hinamori Momo had a stern face and spoke in a serious tone.

The other officers and soldiers were also somewhat nervous; this kind of atmosphere usually doesn't occur alone within the Fifth Division.

Public opinion that can make them nervous will inevitably make the other squads nervous as well.

"Please bear with us for the next few days, because the events involving Aizen have made the 46 Chambers very dissatisfied."

"They hope that during this time you can thoroughly investigate all the major and minor areas of Seireitei, including every nook and cranny and easily overlooked location, to identify any potential security risks."

Hinamori Momo stood on the steps in front of the team barracks, her delicate face serious.

Many of the young players breathed a sigh of relief.

Instead, the officials' expressions turned serious. They could easily tell that these words were not as simple as they sounded.

"This is an order personally issued by the Captain-Commander," Hinamori Momo continued. "Each officer will lead a team of three."

"Mark the locations that have been investigated but are uncertain on the map. Each team will pick up a portion of the map later and conduct searches within the area defined on the map."

"If there are any definite oversights, do not take the initiative to attack. Mark them on the map and wait for the captain to arrange subsequent manpower."

Hinamori's voice rose a few decibels, her expression serious.

"remember!"

"If any definite anomalies are found during the search, absolutely! Absolutely do not act on your own!"

"Be careful in everything you do, and prioritize your own safety above all else!"

This last sentence sent chills down the spines of many high-ranking officials.

Although the Seireitei was breached by Aizen, it remains, without a doubt, the safest place in the entire Soul Society.

In a place like this, is one's own safety the top priority?

Has it become unsafe even within Seireitei?

“The deputy captain must be worried,” one officer reassured himself. “After all, those things have happened.”

“That’s right, it’s just patrolling the Seireitei, which is a task we’re always doing.” Another official chimed in, nodding in agreement. “It’s just that we’re being a bit more thorough than usual, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Hinata Mori is small in stature, but she is very organized and efficient when it comes to doing things.

The team members are assigned roles one by one, so there is almost no overlap in their positions.

They set off.

Watching the officials leave to carry out their orders, Hinamori Momo leaned against a pillar and sighed softly.

For some reason, her right eyelid had been twitching ever since she received the order.

An inexplicable unease enveloped her.

"I hope I'm just overthinking it."

She looked up at the sky, where the sun was still shining brightly, but she always felt that in the shadows where the sun couldn't reach, there seemed to be pairs of eyes watching them.

..........

Rukongai, North District, 78th District.

This is one of the worst areas in Rukongai, a place that is usually chaotic and noisy with all sorts of people.

But today, the place is eerily quiet.

"Hey, Rangiku."

Toshiro Hitsugaya stood in the center of the village, a wisp of withered grass in his hand, his brow furrowed, his tone heavy.

"Don't you think it's too quiet here?"

Although it is a remote place, it is still a village with several hundred people.

But not even a trace of its soul remained; it had all vanished.

Matsumoto Rangiku scanned her surroundings sharply, then pointed in one direction: "Look, footprints."

There was a large patch of messy footprints on the muddy ground at the entrance of the village.

The footprints were densely packed and overlapping, appearing extremely chaotic.

But the strangest thing is that these footprints all point to the desolate forest outside the village.

And at the edge of that forest, all the footprints...

Stopped abruptly.

"What is this?" Matsumoto Rangiku squatted down and rubbed the soil at the end of the footprints with her fingers. "Mass suicide? Or a mass relocation?"

"Do not."

Toshiro shook his head, his eyes filled with seriousness.

“They were driven there.” He pointed to the depth of the footprints. “Look, the front of these footprints is deep and the back is shallow, which means they were running, they were in fear.”

"Something is driving them away."

"Then, here..." Toshiro looked at the empty forest, "and then disappeared due to some external force."

"Disappeared?" Rangiku stood up, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly. "You mean, they were all killed?"

"It's probably even more thorough than killing."

Toshiro's voice was somewhat cold, "I can't sense any residual spiritual particles."

Matsumoto Rangiku clicked her tongue: "This gives me a very bad feeling."

Hitsugaya Toshiro looked at him but didn't say anything.

Almost simultaneously, a name came to mind.

Aizen Sousuke.

The last time such a large-scale soul disappearance occurred in Rukongai was during that man's experiment to create the Hogyoku.

"But wasn't that guy locked up in the Abyss?"

Meanwhile, at the 12th Division, the Technology Development Bureau.

Inside the enormous projection room, a researcher stood up, his tone serious: "A major upheaval has occurred in Hueco Mundo; a large number of Hollows are disappearing."

"Oh no! Something's happened in Hueco Mundo!"

"Within the area of ​​coordinates 7603-9437, 792 Void creatures have been confirmed to have been eliminated!"

Immediately afterwards, a series of reports rang out in the hall.

"Here too! Coordinates 8821, the virtual swarm reaction has disappeared!"

"Different regions, different numbers! The rate of disappearance is accelerating!"

"The balance of the souls is being broken!"

The once orderly hall instantly became noisy, with red alarm lights flashing wildly overhead.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi's expression was grim, his fists clenched, and he gritted his teeth: "The only thing that can completely wipe out Hollows is probably those damned rats."

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. There had been large-scale disappearances of Hollows before, although it was eventually determined that they weren't Quincy. But Mayuri Kurotsuchi had a strange feeling that this time it was them.

"But how dare they?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi's mind raced.

There is a big difference between "annihilate" and "disappear".

Even if a Hollow dies and is devoured by a Greater Hollow, the spiritual energy it represents does not disappear; it simply transfers from one individual to another, becoming part of the Greater Hollow.

From the perspective of the macroscopic balance of the three realms, the quality has not decreased.

When someone is killed by the Grim Reaper, their soul is purified and flows into the Soul Society; this is a normal cycle.

But what the 12th Division is currently monitoring is the "destruction of Hollows".

That portion of spiritual particles was also destroyed, completely erased from the cycle of the Three Realms.

It's like taking a weight out of one side of a balance scale.

As Hueco Mundo loses weight while Soul Society remains unchanged, the balance gradually tilts to one side.

Once the tilt exceeds a critical point, the world will spiral out of control and may even collapse.

"A bunch of idiots who only know how to destroy!" Mayuri Kurotsuchi suddenly stood up, her haori billowing even without wind. "Do they want to drag the whole world down with them?!"

"I'll go inform the chief commander."

Before Mayuri Kurotsuchi could finish speaking, a member of the squad suddenly stood up: "The balance is being restored, and the effects of the Hollows being annihilated are fading."

"what?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi stopped in his tracks, whirled around, and his expression was even more ferocious than before. "What nonsense are you spouting?! The Hollows have been destroyed, how could the balance possibly be restored automatically?!"

"it is true!"

The team member pointed at the screen, his voice trembling.

"The loss of quality caused by the annihilation of the virtual is being offset!"