Inaba looked up at the sky.
Because his Reiatsu had vanished, his Modified Soul and the battered body of this false Yamamoto began rejecting each other.
He could no longer control this body. He could no longer maintain the posture of standing in the sky. Since his head was tilted upward, his body naturally fell backward.
As he dropped through the air, Inaba could already imagine what would happen to him in the future.
The Modified Soul extracted from this ruined body would be the real him. And perhaps that Modified Soul would be sealed away forever.
Forever sealed in darkness.
He did not want that future.
After witnessing the beauty of the sky, how could he endure the loneliness of never seeing the light of day again?
Using the last of his strength, Inaba looked toward Tsunayoshi. His eyes unexpectedly carried a trace of pleading.
That look flashed by in an instant.
He could not help criticizing himself. That was his enemy. Since when had he become foolish enough to beg an enemy?
To beg an enemy to kill him.
He did not want to endure that lightless loneliness anymore…
Just as Inaba was about to close his eyes, a group of free-moving figures attracted his gaze.
Tsunayoshi had seen it.
That gaze seeking death.
He raised his hand, and the three fish-dragon daggers circled in his palm. A deep-blue water sphere rested above his hand.
After a brief moment of thought, Tsunayoshi still reached out and scattered the water sphere.
Swimming together with it were the three fish-dragons. Behind them followed small fish condensed from Rain-attribute Flame.
As the school of fish passed through, the Rain-attribute Flame they scattered was deeper and richer than the rain swallow's. That deep blue, like the depths of the sea, made people feel as though they were truly standing at the bottom of the ocean.
Inaba could not help feeling a little envious.
Even fish were freer than he was.
They were enjoying the lives that belonged to them, while from the moment he was created, he had been constantly working toward someone else's goal.
When had he ever lived his own life?
He felt his eyelids growing heavy. Drowsiness welled up in his heart.
He could no longer remember how long it had been since he had slept properly. All this time, he had been relying on stimulants to keep going.
In the deep sea, with a school of fish for company?
An ending like that did not seem so bad.
What Inaba did not realize was that his will had already been affected by the high-concentration Rain-attribute Flame. Under the effect of tranquility, his consciousness was gradually moving toward stagnation. He himself merely thought he was falling asleep.
Inaba closed his eyes in satisfaction, enjoying this hard-won peace.
The school of fish slowly swept past his body. Rain-attribute Flame ignited Inaba's body, and his already ruined form was rapidly burned away.
Inaba himself felt nothing at all.
Guided by the school of fish, his consciousness was already plunging swiftly toward the abyss, never to awaken again.
Under the burning flames, Inaba's Modified Soul finally appeared.
The school of fish drew a beautiful arc and passed by once more. Amid tens of thousands of scales, the Modified Soul completely shattered and disappeared.
This dance of myriad scales was the funeral Tsunayoshi offered to Inaba.
The school of fish were ferrymen guiding Inaba to the far shore of death. Those struck by this technique would sink within the silent deep sea, falling into the bottomless valley of the ocean, with no hope of ever rising again.
Cero Style: Ten-Thousand-Scale Passage: Ruins' Return. (Cero is the Hollow energy blast) .
Tsunayoshi recalled all his blades.
Aside from the ruined Maggot's Nest, which still told of how fierce the battle had been, the Modified Souls represented by Inaba had vanished without a trace.
"Sorry, old man. I did something unnecessary."
Tsunayoshi returned to Ichigo and the others and spoke to Yamamoto.
Logically speaking, a criminal of Soul Society like Inaba should have been judged by Soul Society after losing the ability to resist. Yet Tsunayoshi had taken matters into his own hands and killed Inaba completely.
"It does not matter. This old man had no intention of keeping criminals like them alive either."
Yamamoto shook his head.
He had long wanted to get rid of places like the Maggot's Nest. Keeping people like Inaba, who carried unknown dangers, locked up there only wasted manpower. From now on, Soul Society only needed the Tower of Repentance and the Great Underground Prison.
After speaking, Yamamoto said over the channel:
"Inaba Kagerōza has been executed. This incident ends here. Captains of each division, restore normal operations in the Seireitei according to your original duties."
Yamamoto vanished with Shunpo.
He had no intention of staying behind to speak with Tsunayoshi. Besides Inaba, another matter still weighed on his mind today: those unstable noble elements.
On the way to the Maggot's Nest, Yamamoto had already received news that some nobles intended to use Artificial Zanpakutō to seize power. He had to hurry over and deal with them.
Tsunayoshi glanced in the direction Yamamoto had gone.
As for the nobles, he had no interest at all. In any case, they were dragging Yamamoto down, so Yamamoto could deal with them himself.
Just as Tsunayoshi was about to release the power of his Transcendent Bankai, he heard Retsu Unohana say resentfully:
"Tsunayoshi, please do not use that final technique against me, all right?"
"Hmm?"
Only then did Tsunayoshi notice Unohana's presence.
A bad feeling suddenly appeared in his heart.
He had finally managed to escape Unohana's entanglement, but now she had discovered a sword-based Transcendent Bankai. Would she not cling to him day and night from now on?
"Do not worry. For now, I have no intention of challenging you."
Unohana saw through what Tsunayoshi was thinking at a glance.
"In exchange, once my strength has improved, please do not refuse me. And please do not use that technique against me."
"I can accept dying in ultimate ecstasy, but I cannot endure perishing in silent descent."
For the first time, Unohana had seen a technique that made her feel fear.
"Promise me. Do not use it on me, all right?"
"Oh, sure."
Even without Myriad-Scale Passage—Ruins' Return, Tsunayoshi still had plenty of techniques he could use. The extremely dense Rain-attribute Flame had filled him with inspiration for swordsmanship.
After Unohana smiled in satisfaction, she also left the scene.
Inaba had caused no small amount of trouble this time. If she had not sensed the familiar Rain-attribute Flame, she never would have come over to watch the battle. Now it was time for her to return and save people.
Without showing anything on his face, Tsunayoshi took Tatsuki's hand beside him and said to Nozomi Kujō:
"We'll take you to Squad Thirteen to report in. There happen to be two companions from the World of the Living there as well. You can get to know them."
Tsunayoshi was referring to Ginjō and Tsukishima.
The two of them had not appeared, likely because they had taken advantage of the chaos in the noble district to find an opportunity to sneak toward the recording hall.
Nozomi nodded. Since she was not very familiar with the Seireitei, she had no reason to refuse.
"I should go find Orihime too. Uryū, Chad, are you heading back first, or…?"
Seeing that it was about time for everyone to part ways, Ichigo asked.
"The Seireitei is such a mess right now. We should help out a little before going back."
Uryū and Chad made the decision together. In the Seireitei, they had also made friends of their own.
"All right, then. Let's split up…"
"Wait…"
Before Tsunayoshi could finish speaking, the Zanpakutō on his back stirred again. It turned out that Byakuran had emerged from the Zanpakutō.
"The incident is already over, Little Tsuna. I'm going back to enjoy myself."
Byakuran even gave Tsunayoshi a playful wink.
Unfortunately, Tsunayoshi did not fall for that at all.
"If you have time to wink at me, you might as well hurry up and hand over the permissions for the other attributes. That way I won't have to use them temporarily like this time and be unfamiliar with the power."
If Tsunayoshi had been sufficiently familiar with the Rain-attribute Transcendent Bankai, then with Inaba's half-baked Zanka no Tachi, Tsunayoshi was confident he could have taken him down within two moves instead of creating several new techniques in succession.
"Oh my, I can't hear what you're saying. We'll talk next time, next time."
Byakuran laughed it off and disappeared in a flash.
Tsunayoshi did not argue with him too much. For now, the Rain-attribute Transcendent Bankai was enough for him to study for a while.
After Byakuran came out, the Tenth also walked out from the Zanpakutō. Tsunayoshi's inner world was once again left with only Kozato Enma bitterly holding the fort alone.
"Little Tsuna, I'll also go out for a walk. Call us in time if anything happens."
Tsunayoshi was still very reassured about the Tenth. At the very least, the Tenth came as soon as he was called, unlike Byakuran, who was sometimes unreliable.
The Tenth headed in the direction of Squad 12 , where Byakuya was. He intended to have Mayuri Kurotsuchi study the legacy Inaba had left behind. As for how to motivate Mayuri, surely he would not refuse research funding from the Kuchiki Clan.
Those who left had left. Those who scattered had scattered.
Only Tsunayoshi and the two girls remained in place.
Tatsuki let Tsunayoshi hold her hand as they walked forward. She did not mind Unohana's earlier behavior. On the contrary, she rather enjoyed seeing Tsunayoshi care about her.
After observing for this period of time, and through the Shinigami Women's Association's understanding of Retsu Unohana, Tatsuki knew that what Unohana was obsessed with had always been Tsunayoshi's swordsmanship, not Tsunayoshi himself.
If Tsunayoshi's power had been some non-swordsmanship type of power, Unohana definitely would not be watching him like this.
In Soul Society, only Tsunayoshi was stronger than her while also being able to spar with her at any time.
In Unohana's words, he provided her with the pleasure of battle.
As for Tsunayoshi, he spent the journey thinking about the power of the Rain-attribute Transcendent Bankai.
In the Transcendent Bankai state, he discovered that his power's effect on Soul Society was far weaker than when he used the Cloud attribute.
Perhaps it was because the Rain attribute's nature was tranquility. All Reiatsu was restrained within the body, which was why, unlike when he used the Cloud attribute, he did not feel as though he were about to burst the world apart.
From this perspective, the effect of Transcendent Bankai on the world was also related to attribute.
Because the Cloud attribute was propagation, it expanded the world. The Rain attribute was tranquility, so its power was restrained within, or it caused the world to enter a relatively still state.
Then would the Storm attribute tear this world apart?
Following this line of thought, Tsunayoshi arrived at Squad Thirteen.
The advantage of Squad Thirteen not having an appointed lieutenant became apparent at this moment. While the lieutenants of other divisions were busy outside, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki were able to receive Tsunayoshi at the barracks.
After he explained his purpose, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki held a brief enlistment ceremony for Nozomi together.
When Nozomi wrote her name on the squad roster, she officially became a Shinigami officer of Squad Thirteen.
She set down the brush with great solemnity and looked at the name she had signed.
Her new life would begin from this moment.
Inaba Kagerōza and Nozomi Kujō, both born from Ōko Yushima.
One only knew how to lower his head and research, and in the end, sank into the abyss.
The other took a step forward to seek a path out, and in the end, welcomed a new life.
Evil and good stood opposed.
As the embodiment of goodwill, Nozomi would walk toward a brilliant life of her own.
The Invading Army Arc: End.
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