Crossover Anime: Starting with Bankai from Demon Slayer

Chapter 386 The Overthinking Head of the Household

The Hidden Spirit Court, inner ring.

The main residence of the Tsunayoshi family, the head of the five noble families.

This area, shrouded by an ancient barrier and strictly off-limits to ordinary Shinigami, is the core of Soul Society.

The towering white walls are engraved with intricate and ancient defensive incantations.

The deep black glazed tiles reflected a cold and arrogant luster under the sunlight.

Here, hierarchy and order are absolute; even the Grim Reaper must be humble and polite.

Today, in the Tsunayo family's enormous reception room, which could accommodate a hundred people, there was an intensely rich yet oppressive scent of incense.

Dozens of figures, each with their own thoughts, were sitting in their respective positions according to their status.

Each tatami mat beneath them was hand-woven over several years by the most skilled craftsmen in Rukongai, and then carefully blessed and congratulated by the Kido sect before it could be used.

But after today's meeting, all the exquisite tatami mats that the guests have sat on will have to be replaced with new ones.

It wasn't because the Tsunayo family disliked the guests.

They simply have the foundation to ensure that every meeting is presented in the most perfect manner...

The guests visiting today are all dressed in magnificent kimonos that represent their respective family crests.

Some of them were heads of upper-class noble families with a history spanning thousands of years, while others were lower-class nobles with real power in their respective regions. Each of them was a prominent and powerful family in this Spirit Court.

At the far end of the reception room, in the main seat, sat an elderly man with a face full of wrinkles.

With his eyes half-closed, he slowly plucked a string of prayer beads made from rare bloodstone, exuding an aura of cold indifference from someone who had long held a high position.

"Gentlemen."

The old man's withered voice echoed in the reception room: "You all know what has happened recently."

"The Forty-Six Chambers are the cornerstone of maintaining order and the agents of the Spirit King."

"Now that this foundation has been shattered by that traitor of humble origins, it's bad enough that even within the Gotei 13, there are dangerous signs of people trying to take advantage of the situation and overstep their bounds."

Although the old man's voice wasn't loud, it resonated like a booming bell in everyone's ears, making them afraid to make a sound.

"Squad Zero... Although Kyoraku Shunsui has been appointed as the acting captain, the Kyoraku family and we have been at odds for years. Shunsui is just a brute and doesn't understand what righteousness is."

"...I've heard that the lower-ranking wandering souls are starting to stir, and many lower-ranking nobles have taken the opportunity to obtain seats in the new Forty-Six Chambers. This is not a good thing."

The old man snorted coldly, stopping the turning of his prayer beads: "The Gotei 13 are merely tools for killing Hollows and maintaining order."

"Those who can truly determine the future of Soul Society and establish that perfect order are only you all present here, only us nobles who bear the oldest bloodline of Soul Society!"

"Tell me, what do you all think?"

These words sounded grand and dignified, but every shrewd person sitting below could hear the underlying meaning.

The meaning of Tsuna's appointment as the head of the family couldn't be clearer.

The former 46 Chambers, vacated through concessions and mediation by Captain-Commander Yamamoto, present an excellent opportunity to reshuffle the cards and redistribute the interests of Soul Society.

As the head of the five noble families, the Tsunayashiro family naturally wants to regain its absolute dominance, just as it did a thousand years ago.

These nobles, both upper and lower ranks, who were dependent on the Tsunayo family and possessed vast assets and influence within the Soul Society, were his best front men.

The reason we have gathered them here today is to select from among them a representative who can represent the interests of the Tsunayo family and fill the forty-six vacant seats.

"Elder Tsunayoshi is absolutely right!"

A middle-aged nobleman sitting in the front row immediately bowed and echoed, his face full of a fawning smile: "The rules of Soul Society have been set by the five great noble families since ancient times!"

"What do those guys who only know how to fight and kill know? If we let those brutes interfere with the reconstruction of the 46 Chambers, Soul Society will be in chaos sooner or later!"

With the first person taking the lead, the other nobles also began to express their opinions.

"We will follow the lead of the Tsunayashiro family and do our utmost to assist them in restoring order to the Soul Society!"

"Indeed! Aizen's rebellion precisely demonstrates that we cannot allow dangerous individuals of non-noble birth to wield too much power! The new 46 must be formed by us to ensure absolute loyalty and stability!"

For a time, the reception room was filled with indignant expressions of loyalty and fervent dreams of future power.

They flattered and tested each other, using elegant aristocratic language to engage in the most sordid and naked power struggles.

However, among this group of enthusiastic nobles, each with their own hidden agendas, there was one person who seemed somewhat out of place.

He sat in a relatively far back position, dressed in an extremely exquisite silk kimono, but his mind was clearly not on the matter.

His aged face revealed a sinister and irritable expression.

This man was none other than the head of the Kasumi family, Yosuke Kumoi.

The Kasumi family, as an upper-class noble family second only to the five great noble families, possesses a wealth that makes many nobles envious.

Given the status of the Kasumi family, they should have been seated in the front row, becoming honored guests whom various forces were trying to win over.

But at this moment, he could only be ranked last.

Because he was just a head of the household.

Even though he served as a close retainer of the Kasumi family for two generations of heads of the family, he was already an all-powerful figure within the family.

But in the eyes of these nobles, he was nothing more than a servant running errands.

Of course, he was unwilling to be just a subordinate retainer.

Looking at the vast assets of the Xia Dalu family and the powerful and influential figures among those nobles, the flames of ambition deep within Yun Jing's heart had long since burned away his reason.

He wanted to replace that useless blonde girl and become the true master of the Xia Dalu family!

To become someone who can chat and laugh with the elders of the Tsuna family in this reception room!

But his frustration didn't stop there.

His mind was in turmoil, making it impossible for him to concentrate on those hypocritical statements.

"That damn little brat...where did she run off to?!"

Yun Jing cursed viciously in his heart, gripping the jade thumb ring hidden in his sleeve tightly.

A few days ago, he meticulously planned an assassination plot against Kasumi Rurichiyo.

But on the night he was about to close the net, an accident occurred.

Two guards who usually seemed like idiots actually risked their lives to break through his inescapable trap... miraculously escaped from the Kasumi family and disappeared without a trace!

"A bunch of useless trash! They can't even keep an eye on a little girl and two lower-ranking Grim Reapers!"

A barely concealed ferocity flashed in Yun Jing's eyes.

In the past few days, he has mobilized almost all the forces he has secretly cultivated in the Spirit Court, and even risked exposure by sending his secretly trained assassin force to search the mortal world.

But there has been no news of them to this day.

Ruri Chiyo's disappearance is like a sword hanging over Kumoi's head.

If that little girl were to escape alive and end up in front of those rule-abiding Shinigami captains, like that rigid Byakuya Kuchiki...

Or perhaps it's through the lazy, newly appointed Captain-Commander Kyoraku Shunsui that his plot to seize power is exposed...

Then all the hard work he has put in over the past few centuries may vanish in an instant!

What awaits him is likely the merciless annihilation and terrifying torture of the Gotei 13!

"No...we absolutely cannot let that happen! That little girl must die!"

"No matter where she's hiding in this world, she must be found and killed immediately!"

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