NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2 – Mission
The Penal Force is a secret mobile unit of the Second Division, and also the strongest unit. Their main responsibilities include infiltration, assassination, execution, and other covert operations. Efficiency is paramount during their operations.
Therefore, during operations, members of the Penal Force do not yell like members of other divisions. Instead, they are all stoically calm, uniformly orderly, almost like intricate machines.
After joining the ranks, Ailin quickly found his squad leader and followed behind him along with three other Shinigami from the same squad.
"Hmm?"
Feeling an extra presence suddenly appear beside him, Kuta Aokigi's mind shook. Which squad leader was this? Did they want to cooperate with his squad for the upcoming mission?
A few seconds after the figure followed behind Kuta Aokigi, he finally recognized that this guy was a member of his own squad. He was the one Kuta Aokigi personally scouted from the Spiritual Arts Academy.
However, what was going on here?
If Kuta Aokigi remembered correctly, during the last mission, Ailin was no different from the other three members of his squad. But this time, he actually didn't sense Ailin's presence until he had already approached.
With just his "hiding" technique alone, Ailin was already comparable to Kuta Aokigi. Could Ailin have improved this much in such a short period of time? Although filled with doubts, Kuta Aokigi didn't say anything.
They were a group of jackals lurking in the darkness, specifically handling Soul Society's ugly matters that couldn't see the light of day. As long as it didn't involve themselves, who would care about anything else?
As the Gotei 13 squad with one of the highest mortality rates, what they needed to do was survive mission after mission.
Whoosh...
Whoosh Whoosh...
One after another, black figures swiftly traversed the ups and downs of the Second Division barracks. Before the emergency assembly bugle had even finished sounding, the five regiments and fifty squads, two hundred and fifty people of the Penal Force had already neatly gathered on the training grounds.
"Swish!"
The sound of breaking wind rang out. In the forefront of the Second Division training grounds, two figures suddenly appeared.
One had long, purple hair and wore a yellow and black tank top with black pants - this was the Captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi Shihōin.
The other had messy, dull yellow hair and listless eyes, seemingly disinterested in everything. This was the current Vice-Captain of the Second Division as well as the Captain of the Detention Unit, Kisuke Urahara.
With Ailin's current abilities, he could only hear the sound of breaking wind after their appearance.
"Everyone, recently many souls have mysteriously disappeared from the Rukongai. The Captain-Commander has ordered us to investigate the reason behind the disappearing souls as soon as possible."
"The First Regiment will be responsible for investigating the eastern districts of Rukongai."
"The Second Regiment will investigate the western districts."
"The Third Regiment will take the southern districts."
"The Fourth Regiment will take the northern districts."
"The Fifth Regiment will investigate the Seireitei along with me."
"Yes!"
After receiving their assignments, everyone quickly turned into residual images and dashed towards their assigned areas using Shunpo.
Ailin was part of the Fourth Regiment, so his squad was responsible for investigating the northern Rukongai districts.
The Rukongai's four districts were each divided into eighty-one numbered districts. The further back the district number, the more chaotic it would be.
Perhaps due to Ailin's increased abilities, this time Kuta Aokigi assigned Ailin to investigate Districts 61 and 62 of northern Rukongai.
Compared to the districts near the Seireitei, housing conditions beyond District 60 had already become extremely dilapidated. Moreover, there were no fixed marketplaces here either. From time to time, fighting and killing broke out.
Whoosh!
Ailin's figure appeared in the shadows of a house corner. Fully concealing his Reiatsu, the people inside were completely unaware of the extra presence.
After recording these people's Reiatsu, Ailin continued traversing Districts 61 and 62, documenting the Reiatsu of souls he came across.
These tattered, skeletal souls wandering in Rukongai were obviously not the perpetrators behind the missing souls. But in the eyes of the real culprits, they were the most suitable souls to "disappear."
By recording their Reiatsu, Ailin could sense them within a certain range to determine their status. In Ailin's memory, the most prominent incident of souls mysteriously disappearing was when Sōsuke Aizen developed the Hōgyoku.
But clearly, the current timeline was off. Or perhaps, because this was the real world, Aizen had started his Hōgyoku research even earlier than Ailin knew?
Ailin focused his mind, extending his sensory abilities to their maximum limit. While sensing Reiatsu around him, he also contemplated the root cause behind this incident.
During his thirty years in Soul Society, Ailin had roughly figured out what point in the timeline he was at. It was around two hundred years before the Bleach storyline would kick off.
The Second Division Captain was still Yoruichi Shihōin, the Third Division Captain was still Rōjūrō Otoribashi, the Fifth Division Captain was still Shinji Hirako, the Seventh Division Captain was still Love Aikawa, the Ninth Division Captain was still Kensei Muguruma, the Tenth Division Captain was Shiba Isshin, the Eleventh Division Captain was Sōya Kenpachi, and Jūshirō Ukitake was still the thirteeth Division Captain.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Ailin's mind -
Before Aizen, Kisuke Urahara had already succeeded in creating an incomplete Hōgyoku. Could the current incident of disappearing souls have been caused by Urahara's machinations?
Captain Yoruichi had mobilized the entire Second Division for such a large-scale investigation of Rukongai districts while she and Urahara were personally investigating Seireitei. Were they trying to cover things up for Urahara?
Come to think of it, why were those Central 46 nobles so certain over a hundred years later that the Hollowfication experiments were Urahara's doing?
The only possibility was that Urahara had prior offenses!
At this thought, Ailin's figure halted for a moment. "Forget it, I'm too small a fry to know or handle these sorts of matters. Just focus on my own duties."
No longer thinking about it, Ailin continued recording Reiatsu and moving unpredictably through the two districts he was responsible for.
If he sensed any Reiatsu disappearances, Ailin would definitely release a signal and immediately flee the area. He had only just obtained powers that could be considered "supreme". How could he resign himself to dying here?
Fortunately, this situation persisted until the mission ended without any abnormalities occurring in Ailin's assigned districts.
Afterwards, the Second Division returned to its former tranquility. Ailin also resumed his daily routine of copying other Shinigamis' Zanpakutō at the training grounds during the day. At night after returning to the barracks, he would enter his inner world and forge the Zanpakutō copies made during the day.
Moreover, by absorbing the battle experience of these Zanpakutō wielders, his own strength gradually increased...