XX-level Hokage

Even as the surging, terrifying flames relentlessly licked everything within their reach, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni didn't even draw his sword. He narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing Aizen Sosuke right in front of him, and after a cold snort, said, "But what's the meaning of your clothes?"

Has he completely abandoned the glory of being the Grim Reaper?

Flames raged all around, leaving only Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni and Aizen Sousuke. The aura that erupted from Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's words pressed down on Aizen Sousuke like a raging inferno. "That kind of thing...it's...it's...I've never felt anything like it from the beginning."

However, for Aizen Sosuke, this terrifying aura, which was enough to make even a vice-captain level Shinigami unable to move, was like a gentle breeze brushing against his face, and he didn't need to pay any attention to it.

Rather, Yamamoto Genryu's questioning actually brought a slight smile to Aizen Yosuke's face. He seemed to have remembered something.

"As for the Shinigami Aizen Susuke... wasn't he already dead?"

Chapter 135: Aizen and Yamamoto

"What a callow brat!!" "Boom!!!"

A burst of orange-yellow, almost golden flames suddenly erupted from Yamamoto Genryuchi Shigekuni's location toward Aizen Sosuke.

In the brief distance between Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni and Aizen Yusuke, all the air was swallowed up in one gulp, swelled by the wind, and instantly transformed into a towering wave that surged and engulfed Aizen Yusuke.

The ability to wield the power of flames with effortless grace, creating a force as powerful as a tidal wave, is something that probably only Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni could achieve.

Aizen, who had a faint smile on his face, was completely engulfed by flames before he could even react.

Only then did Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni softly utter the second half of his sentence: "How dare you defy your superiors!"

The oldest fire-type Zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka, which Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni had been holding, had been drawn. However, no trace of flame could be seen on the ancient blade.

In other words, Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni has already achieved the ability to use the power of his Zanpakuto without releasing it, and he has even reached this level.

"The undisputed strongest Grim Reaper in a thousand years."

Yamamoto Genryuji Shigekuni suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Aizen, who should have been engulfed by his flames, suddenly appeared unharmed in another location.

He spoke with a sigh, as if he wasn't being targeted by Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni at all, but merely as an unrelated outsider.

"You... is this the reason you were able to fake your death?" "A mirage."

Aizen wanted Suke to calmly draw his Zanpakuto from his waist.

The light green hilt and the neatly hexagonal sword blade were as unremarkable as the impression Aizen and Sousuke had left on everyone. Neither ornate nor extravagant, its simplicity bordered on excessive.

Didn't I tell you this before? The power of Kyoka Suigetsu is to disrupt enemies and cause them to fight each other through the chaotic reflection of mist and water. But that's actually wrong. Kyoka Suigetsu's true power, I call it—Complete Hypnosis.

Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni suddenly realized, because the instant he uttered those words, Aizen's figure vanished. The disappearance was so sudden that he even had the illusion that a few seconds of his own time had been skipped.

Controlling the enemy's five senses allows a specific target to manipulate the posture, shape, texture, touch, and taste of an object according to my will.

"That's the level of power you have—the ability to make a fly appear as a dragon and a swamp as a flower garden."

Aizen Yosuke's voice came from another direction. Looking in that direction again, all I saw was the same Aizen Yosuke.

This also explains how Aizen Sosuke dodged Yamamoto Genryuchi's enraged attack. Perhaps he didn't dodge at all.

Instead, he was never in that position from the beginning, leading Yamamoto Motojo Shigekuni to mistakenly believe he was in that position.

In other words, no matter how powerful Yamamoto Genryu's enraged attack was, it was meaningless if it didn't hit its target. Using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito—similar examples are common in the world.

"Furthermore, I may need to remind you that the ability to be fully hypnotized is perpetual. That is to say, once you have witnessed the liberation ceremony of the illusion, you will become a prisoner of the illusion forever. Once you are a prisoner of the illusion, you will have no way to escape even if you know that you have been hypnotized."

"...So that's why you so nonchalantly revealed the truth about your power?"

Surprisingly, Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's expression was no longer excited, and his voice became low.

However, in the flickering firelight and the unpredictable interplay of light and shadow, his expression became even more terrifying.

At this moment, Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni was fundamentally different from the dignified yet somewhat kind old man he usually was; at this moment, he seemed...

They are evil spirits that have emerged from the fiery hell.

He had no interest in when Aizen had hypnotized them, because since Aizen wanted Usuke to dare say it here and had demonstrated this ability to him more than once, it meant that Usuke had already fallen for it.

There's no point in dwelling on the past that can't be changed; what we really need to focus on is the present.

The question is always, how should we deal with the evil that must be eradicated right now? Aizen Yosuke simply smiled.

"Actually, I really didn't want to fight you right now. After all, you're known as the strongest Shinigami, so I should be fully prepared. But that guy..."

Her sudden return made me a little uneasy, after all, she is the second person besides Kisuke Urahara to be so versatile.

No matter how terrifying Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni was, he always remained calm and composed, as if he had everything under his control.

"Since that's the case—" *Whoosh*

The central part emitted a bluish-white light, while the edge was a ring of bright red flames. Compared to the raging fire, this was merely a small flame.

But what's truly terrifying is where this tiny flame rose—not from any flammable material, but from...

A chilling, piercing light emanates from the tip of a weapon. All things, everything, are but dust.

The faint, tiny flames started from the tip of the blade, spread upwards along the blade, and eventually reached the hilt, setting Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's hands and body ablaze.

The entire longsword was completely enveloped in the raging flames.

"Ryujin Jakka!!!" BOOM!!!

The moment the last word of the Liberation Command was uttered from Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's mouth, an ancient and scorching flame, which had spread from over a thousand years ago, transformed into a blaze of fire that shot into the sky from the ruins of the First Division.

Like a barrier isolating everything, the flames spread, burning everything in their path to ashes.

Looking down from above, one would see a massive flame engulfing the vast area centered on the team leader's meeting room, even encompassing all the team members who had been driven away by Yamamoto Genryu and Shigekuni but hadn't yet managed to evacuate.

Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni himself was completely enveloped in the blazing, bursting flames. His long, silvery-white beard tied with a purple ribbon, his long eyebrows, and even his haori (a type of traditional Chinese garment) all swirled and danced in the heat.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni stared directly at Aizen, thinking of Sousuke. Even if that wasn't where he was.

Even if it was just an illusion he saw alone, it didn't matter.

Because as long as Aizen Sousuke can still hear him and communicate with him, it proves one thing.

Even if full hypnosis could be perpetual, and even further, long-term hypnosis could be achieved according to a certain setting, such flexible responses and communication could not possibly be responded to according to a predetermined procedure.

Aizen suspected that Sousuke's true form must be somewhere here. Since a powerful attack on a single target was ineffective...

So all we need to do is indiscriminately strike everything within range. "Then you'll pay the price for your cleverness and arrogance."

So, to sacrifice me alone, they're willing to take the hundreds of soldiers here with them? That's quite a grand scheme.

I could sense a certain tension, like the ticking countdown of a bomb, feeling the threat closing in every second.

Chapter 136: Weakness

Even though Aizen understood this much, his demeanor and appearance did not change in the slightest.

No one knows the source of his confidence. No, perhaps someone does, but those who do know aren't present.

But in almost everyone's eyes, as long as Aizen is still a Shinigami, he cannot defeat Yamamoto Genryuji Shigekuni, who stands at the pinnacle of pure Shinigami.

Rather, it would be a mistake to appear before Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni at this time and be caught by him. Instead of denying Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's guess, he directly admitted the reality before him.

This also demonstrates that with his current abilities, if he wanted to perform the aforementioned meticulous operations, it would be unavoidable for him to be near Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni.

Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's judgment at that moment was correct.

Although Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's ability is only at the Shikai stage, its power is already several times greater than that of a typical Captain's Release.

As Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's well-prepared attack was about to strike, did Aizen have the confidence to remain unscathed under such an onslaught? Even Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni himself was wondering this.

From the first time he saw Aizen until today, when he saw the resurrected Aizen again, he suddenly realized that this was the first time he had truly known Aizen.

"I admit that the Captain-Commander is extremely powerful, but, if, I mean if."

Aizen raised his right hand, extending his index finger. The smile on his face gradually widened.

"The loss of these hundreds of ordinary soldiers present is tolerable. But if we involve the First Division Vice-Captain Sasakibe Jōjirō, Third Seat Okiga Genjirō, all the original First Division soldiers, and the more than two thousand soldiers currently gathered at the First Division's base, and ask them to sacrifice themselves, then how would you, Captain-Commander, deal with that?"

"!!"

Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints:

He subconsciously looked toward the void that Aizen had pointed to.

Although he was old and looked quite aged, he was not yet blind, which was why he could see clearly in the sky directly above the First Division.

Like a bright early star, something flashing its light as it rapidly fell. It looked like it was composed of something that was both a sphere and a cube.

The largest cube is located in the very center, and from each of the six faces, three cubes of decreasing size extend outwards from the midpoint, for a total of 19 cubes.

At this moment, the crimson light in the center of the largest cube continued to brighten, gradually eroding the pale blue of all the cubes. Even from such a great distance, it could be sensed that a strong reaction was taking place.

Meanwhile, the energy arcs that constantly intertwine outside the cubes, making it seem at first glance that the cubes are stuffed into a larger sphere, are also rotating at a terrifying speed, forming a translucent black sphere that envelops the reacting cubes.

It seems to be both to protect the cube from being stopped or prematurely detonated by external forces before it explodes, and to aggregate the energy of the explosion in order to release a more powerful destructive force.

Aizen defeated Tosen Kaname, who had just released his ultimate, in an instant. The hundreds of Gotei 15 members knew that fighting with their swords meant certain death, yet they still did it. To protect these Gotei 15 members, Yamamoto Genryushi Shigekuni finally stepped forward and stood in front of Aizen.

However, once he realized that Aizen could not be defeated by conventional means, he did not hesitate to involve the hundreds of soldiers he had saved, just as he did not deny Aizen's words.

These few white-named soldiers will become sacrifices for Yamamoto Genryushi Shigekuni to defeat Aizen.

This seemingly contradictory logic is actually perfectly sound. The soldiers should die for the Gotei 14.

It can be summed up in a single sentence.

Now, Aizen is trapped in the fiery hell built by Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni and cannot escape.

Once Yamamoto Genryu Shigekuni's technique is unleashed, everything in this fiery hell will be destroyed.

From this perspective, the spirit bomb that was supposedly capable of completely wiping out the entire squad's base was not a bad thing at all, but rather a powerful assist.

If timed perfectly with the timing of the bomb's fall and explosion, the two irresistible forces from the ground and the sky will merge into one, multiplying exponentially, and completely annihilating everything within the area into spiritual particles.

Under such power, even Yamamoto Genryu and Shigekuni weren't confident they could escape unscathed, let alone Aizen.

Aizen was a man of meticulous planning, feigning wisdom but ultimately making a disastrous mistake. The spirit bomb fell rapidly, but the reaction time was even faster.

When I first noticed it, it was still quite far away, but now it's almost right above the First Division.

After more than a hundred years of development, the 13th Gotei 13 has prospered and now has more than 8,000 members, both old and new.

However, due to the current situation, more than two thousand people have gathered at the First Division, and even more people have gathered around the Shin-O Ward where the First Division is located.

In a moment, these people, along with Aizen, will be completely reduced to dust in history. "Hiss..."

It was like the sun falling from the sky.

It didn't even fall to the ground; it exploded in mid-air.