Bleach: Starting with Marrying Retsu Unohana

"Alright, now that the tasks have been assigned to each of you, you can all go home! Oh, and remember to finish your homework on time."

Araki smiled gently and spoke softly to Kyoraku and the others. After Araki had finished assessing his disciples and assigned them tasks, he decided to let them leave first.

"Okay, teacher!"

When Kyoraku, Ukitake, Yoruichi, Tokina, and Soi Fon heard that they could disperse, their eyes lit up. After all, they had been away from Seireitei for more than two hundred years. Now that Araki said they could go home, they were naturally very excited. Even Tokina missed his not-so-warm home.

"goodbye teacher!"

After a brief moment, Kyoraku and the others bid farewell to Araki...

They then used 'Instant Step' to disappear from Araki's sight at their fastest speed.

"Heh, am I some kind of ferocious demon?!"

Araki watched the departing students and smiled helplessly.

Araki then slowly stood up and walked towards the 'Shiba' family compound behind him.

Yes, after dismissing his students, Araki did not rush to leave. After all, he had caused the Shiba family a lot of trouble, and he had to repay the Shiba family in some way.

And so, twenty minutes later...

Inside the Shiba family's reception room.

The current head of the Shiba family sat in the house with Araki, both of them smiling.

In fact, Araki and the head of the Shiba family were old friends. After all, whenever Araki needed to use the "Heavenly Pillar Chariot," he would ask the Shiba family to borrow the Shiba Cannon...

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. After borrowing the Shiba Cannon from the Shiba family multiple times, Araki became 'friends' with the head of the family.

At this moment, Araki was sipping his tea while chatting with the head of the Shiba family.

"Captain Araki, is there anything else you need that requires the help of the Shiba family?"

"Whether what you need from the Shiba family is big or small, as long as it's what you need, just let us know. As long as it's within the Shiba family's capabilities, we will naturally do our best..."

Shiba Tenjun, the current head of the Shiba family, looked at Araki with a smile as he spoke.

"Haha, Brother Tianjun, you're too kind~"

"When I came to the Shiba family this time, there was no question of giving any orders or instructions!"

"I'm just a lowly 'royal agent' from the 'Zero Squad'! What right do I have to order the heads of the 'Five Great Noble Families' around? I've come to see you today because there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."

Araki smiled slightly after hearing Shiba Tenjun's words and continued to speak politely to him.

"oh?!"

Upon hearing this, Shiba Tenjun's brows furrowed slightly. Based on his many years of experience managing the Shiba family, he judged that Araki's intentions were clearly hostile.

"The current captain of the Ninth Division should be a member of the Shiba family, right?"

Before Shiba Tenjun could think further, Araki continued speaking.

Araki didn't reveal his purpose right away, but instead asked Shiba Tenjun in a seemingly casual way.

"The captain of the Ninth Division is none other than my younger sister, Shiba Sawako..."

After listening to Araki's words, Shiba Tenjun nodded slightly.

"As expected..."

Araki, upon hearing this, wore an expression that said, "I knew it."

At the same time, Araki was also quite interested in the names of the Shiba family. According to Araki's understanding of the Shiba family, the current head of the Shiba family used the four characters '天' (Ten), '山' (Shan), '泽' (Ze), and '林' (Lin) and added a certain bird to form their names! As for the next generation of the Shiba family head, they were naturally the '海空岩' (Kai, Sora, Iwa) trio.

The "Ichi" in the branch family of the Shiba family seems to be a continuous lineage: "Ichishin," "Ichigo," and "Ichiyu"...

"Brother Tenjun, do you have any plans to change your younger sister's squad?"

Araki shared his thoughts with Shiba Tenjun.

"Change squads?!"

After hearing Araki's words, Tenjun frowned deeply.

In fact, Tenjun had no intention of changing his sister Zeku's squad, even if other squads were more lucrative and better suited to the future development of the Shiba family. Tenjun also had no intention of interfering in the affairs of other squads...

After all, a high income meant that the Shiba family would inevitably clash with other noble families. Although the Shiba family, along with Shihouin, Kuchiki, and Tsunayo, was one of the "Five Great Noble Families"...

However, the Shiba family did not possess the sheer size of the latter three families, and they were unwilling to risk unnecessary conflicts with other noble families or noble groups for the sake of personal gain.

"Hehe! I suppose Brother Tenjun is worried that the Shiba family's change of squad might cause dissatisfaction among other nobles? You have absolutely no need to worry about that..."

"Because I will bear all the 'dissatisfaction,' 'condemnation,' 'conflict,' and 'curses'! Anyone who is dissatisfied with this matter is welcome to come find me at the 'Eleventh Division'~"

"As for my wish for the Shiba family to relinquish control of the 'Ninth Division' and let my younger sister leave the 'Ninth Division' to become the leader of another division, it wasn't just for my sake! In fact, in my opinion, changing divisions would also be quite beneficial to the Shiba family..."

"If I remember correctly, the Ninth Division should be the Prison Division. I imagine it must be very tough for you, Miss. On one side is the 'Gotei 13' and even the entire 'Seireitei's' 'judiciary,' and on the other side are all sorts of powerful and influential 'noble groups' who never take the law seriously and are even capable of hiring hitmen to kill people right in front of you..."

"To uphold 'justice,' one must clash with the 'noble' group; to curry favor with the 'noble' group, one must be condemned by both conscience and 'law'! Frankly, I don't think the 'Ninth Division' is a division that helps the 'Shiba' family's development..."

Araki naturally saw Tenjun's worries. He smiled slightly and told Tenjun about the drawbacks of the 'Ninth Division'! Since Araki dared to come to Tenjun, he must have come prepared. In just a few words, he hit the nail on the head.

"This……"

Shiba Tenjun seemed surprised that Araki could see through his thoughts so easily, and he immediately looked embarrassed, giving a bitter smile.

"I'm sorry, I made you laugh..."

"As you said, I do have that concern!"

"To be honest, our Shiba family has long intended to relinquish control of the 'Gotei 9'..."

"As you said, this is a thankless job! Our Shiba family can't do things against our conscience! Don't laugh at me, but in fact, my sister has already prepared to 'take a break'..."

"However, our Shiba family hasn't found a suitable time to 'take a break'—after all, this isn't just an internal matter for our Shiba family, it also involves other noble factions! If our Shiba family rashly relinquishes control of the 'Gotei 13's' captaincy, it's likely to provoke discontent among other nobles as well..."

After a wry smile, Shiba Tenjun slowly recounted the situation of his Shiba family to Araki.

"Captain Araki, what do you think is the best way for our Shiba family to overcome this current crisis?!"

After explaining the problems of the Shiba family, Shiba Tenjun didn't forget to ask Araki a question, as if he was completely at Araki's mercy.

"Old fox!"

After hearing what Tenjun said, Araki couldn't help but curse him inwardly as an old fox. Araki had already mentioned the matter of changing the Shiba family's squad, but Tenjun didn't mention it at all, instead throwing the issue back to Araki, as if everything was up to Araki to decide.

In this way, even if any problems arise in the end, it will be Araki's decision and will have nothing to do with him, Shiba Tenjun. If other nobles come to him, Shiba Tenjun will have an explanation so that he won't be resented by others!

It has to be said that Shiba Tenjun has mastered the art of balancing power to the highest level. Whenever a decision arises that conflicts with the interests of other forces, Shiba Tenjun simply leaves it all to Araki to decide. After all, if anything goes wrong, it's Araki's problem, not his.

"If Kaien had the skill of Tenjun, he probably wouldn't have died so young, right? When he encountered Metastacia, who killed his wife Shiba Tomo, he probably would have directly asked Ukitake to take action, or even attacked her en masse! Kaien, Kaien! You'd better be more careful!"

Araki thought to himself silently.

After a short while, Araki continued speaking to Shiba Tenjun, "In fact, I do possess a method to help the Shiba family overcome their current problems."

"Oh? Please tell me, Araki-kun!"

Tenjun's eyes lit up immediately, and he continued to ask Araki questions.

"Why doesn't the Shiba family simply change the 'Prison Squad' of the 'Ninth Division' to the 'Patrol Squad' of the 'Tenth Division'?"

Araki shared his thoughts directly with Shiba Tenjun.

"Squad 10..."

After hearing what Araki said, Tenjun couldn't help but frown.

"The 10th Division is indeed impressive! But right now, it's not just the Shiba family that's eyeing it! If the Shiba family also gets involved in this competition for the 10th Division's leader, it might cause a lot of unnecessary trouble."

Tenjun frowned, he was also very conflicted, the 'Tenth Division' was so much better than the 'Ninth Division'!

However, the Shiba family wasn't the only one who knew that the 10th Division had an "easy job" and "great power" on a daily basis...

If they were to change from the 'Ninth Division' to the 'Tenth Division', it would seem to contradict the core principle of the 'Shiba' family—not to compete with other nobles.

"I've already said, you don't need to consider anything else! You just need to answer one question: Does your Shiba family even want the position of captain of the 10th Division?!"

Araki looked at the Sky Falcon in front of him and asked.

"Of course I want to!"

After thinking for a long time, Tianjun nodded vigorously.

"Ok, I see."

Araki nodded in satisfaction after listening to Tenjun's words.

"That's it?!"

Tenjun looked at Araki with some disbelief and asked.

"That's it!"

"Oh, right, remember to write a report for Old Man Shan; we need to follow the proper procedures."

Araki first smiled slightly at Tenjun, then gave him a reminder.

"Oh well……"

"Please rest assured, I will write the transfer report to Captain-Commander Yamamoto as quickly as possible."

Tenjun didn't try to shirk responsibility on this point. Writing a transfer report was easy for him. Besides, in Tenjun's view, it was necessary to follow the proper procedures to avoid people saying that the Shiba family was abusing the privileges of the 'Five Great Noble Families' and doing something special.

"Then I'll leave first."

As Araki spoke, he slowly stood up from his seat, seemingly having no intention of staying with the Shiba family any longer.

"Are you leaving so soon? Don't you plan to stay a little longer?"

Tenjun looked at Araki and asked.

"No, after all, I still have to visit the homes of those nobles who are planning to 'compete' for the position of captain of the 10th Division."

Araki looked at Tenjun and said with a smile.

"Huh? Why are you going to get involved with those nobles?"

Upon hearing this, Tenjun frowned slightly and looked at Araki with some confusion, asking him a question.

If Tenjun remembers correctly, what Araki hated most was hanging out with those nobles...

Araki's close relationship with the Shiba family stems from the fact that, despite being one of the "Five Great Noble Families," the Shiba family doesn't act like nobles at all and is incredibly friendly to everyone.

"If I don't go to their houses and deal with them all, how will Guimei complete the 'squad' change?!"