When Shunsui and the others entered the Captain-Commander's office, they immediately found Byakuya already there, but what drew even more attention was Shihōin Yoruichi standing nearby.
With representatives of three of the Great Noble Clans now gathered in the same room, the atmosphere instantly became more serious.
"You all know I disappeared recently," Kazuma began without wasting any time. "What you don't know is where I went."
He leaned back slightly before continuing.
"I ran into the founders of the Five Great Noble Clans—or rather, the four who are still alive."
Several expressions changed at once.
"Yes. Your ancestors." Kazuma gave Byakuya, Yoruichi, and Nanao a pointed look. "The four old bastards teamed up and very nearly got me killed."
He said it almost casually, which somehow made the implication even worse.
"I barely made it back alive, and even then, I had no intention of taking that grudge out on their descendants. Their crimes are theirs. I'm not interested in punishing people for what their ancestors did."
Kazuma's smile gradually faded as he tossed an investigation report onto the table.
"Unfortunately, some people apparently decided to walk straight into my line of fire anyway. So tell me—if someone insists on causing trouble for me after all that, should I deal with them or not?"
Shunsui picked up the report and skimmed through it, his expression hardening almost immediately.
"The Tsunayashiro Clan…"
Now everything made sense.
Kazuma was preparing to move against them, and that was no small matter.
The Tsunayashiro were one of Soul Society's most powerful noble houses, and eliminating them completely would require far more than sending a few officers to make arrests.
If Kazuma truly intended to uproot their influence throughout the Seireitei, the entire Gotei 13 might have to become involved.
From the corner of the room, Nanao slowly raised a hand.
"Um… Captain-Commander?"
Her voice was unusually hesitant as she glanced between the others. "I'm starting to feel like I shouldn't be here. What does any of this have to do with me?"
Kazuma gave her a knowing smile. "Lieutenant Ise, weren't you listening? I said Five Great Noble Clans."
Nanao froze.
Byakuya and the others reacted a second later as realization dawned on them.
The identity of the mysterious fifth Great Noble Clan had been debated for generations, and Kazuma had just looked directly at—
"Ise?" Nanao stared at him. "No. That can't be right."
As far as she knew, her family was simply an old Shinto lineage, nothing more.
Now Kazuma was casually telling her that the Ise Clan had once stood alongside the Kuchiki, Shihōin, Shiba, and Tsunayashiro.
It was like spending your entire life believing you came from an ordinary family, only for someone to suddenly inform you that your ancestors had once belonged to one of the most powerful dynasties in existence.
Nanao looked completely stunned.
Rukia, meanwhile, looked fascinated.
"This is huge." She leaned forward eagerly. "Sensei, keep going."
Kazuma's eye twitched.
He suddenly wanted to hit her again.
Could this girl stop treating every family-shattering revelation like premium gossip?
Turning toward Kūkaku, Kazuma continued, "Kūkaku, I've got some bad news for you too. Your ancestor is dead."
Kūkaku blinked.
"The other four founders killed him."
He might as well tell her now.
The truth would surface eventually, and delaying it would only create more trouble later.
Kūkaku stared at him for a moment before simply shrugging.
"So he's dead, big deal."
A few people looked at her in surprise.
"What, am I supposed to avenge someone who died before I was born?" She looked toward Byakuya and Yoruichi.
"Am I supposed to start fighting them over something their ancestors did?"
That clearly wasn't happening.
The founder of the Shiba Clan was far too distant a figure for Kūkaku to suddenly reorganize her entire life around his death.
Shunsui looked back at Kazuma. "Captain-Commander, everything you just told us—is it really true?"
He didn't think Kazuma would invent something this absurd merely to justify attacking the Tsunayashiro Clan, but the story was extraordinary enough that he wanted to hear the answer clearly.
"Completely true." Kazuma folded his arms. "And since those old bastards failed to kill me, I doubt they'll simply give up. Sooner or later, they'll appear in Soul Society or the Human World themselves. When that happens, you'll know I wasn't joking."
That was the real reason he had gathered them.
He had given them the truth, and now he wanted to see what they would do with it.
Would Byakuya, Yoruichi, Nanao, and Kūkaku stand with him as members and allies of the Gotei 13, or would they side with ancestors they had never even met?
Kazuma was taking a gamble, betting that the people standing before him would choose the lives and loyalties they had built for themselves over ancient blood ties.
If he was wrong, then the Gotei 13 might need far more than a few new appointments. It might need to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Fortunately, Kazuma had already brought the original captains back from Hell.
If the worst happened, he at least had people capable of filling the vacancies; without them, this situation would have been far more dangerous.
Silence settled over the room, and several seconds passed without anyone speaking.
Kazuma's hand slowly came to rest on the hilt of his sword.
He had no desire to draw it against Byakuya, Yoruichi, Nanao, or Kūkaku, but until they made their choice, he had to be prepared for the possibility that he might have to.
...
"Captain-Commander, there's still one thing we don't understand."
Yoruichi watched Kazuma closely. "Why would our founders suddenly attack you? What started all of this?"
It was the question everyone in the room had been waiting to ask, because whatever Kazuma said next would determine where they stood.
Kazuma drew a breath.
"It starts with the Soul King."
Then he told them everything: Adnyeus, the creation and balance of the Three Worlds, the four surviving founders, the strange space derived from Hell, and the unknown god backing them from somewhere beyond their world.
By the time Kazuma finished, no one spoke.
For Shinigami whose lives revolved around Soul Society, Hollows, and maintaining the balance of souls, hearing about gods beyond their world and ancient founders conspiring over the fate of the Three Worlds sounded almost absurd.
Yet Kazuma had no reason to invent any of it.
Yoruichi was the first to recover.
"Well?" She looked around the room. "What does everyone think?"
A quiet discussion followed.
Some found Kazuma's story almost impossible to believe, while others pointed out that fabricating something this elaborate would serve little purpose.
Eventually, Kūkaku cut through the debate.
"Founders, Soul King, rulers of the world… all of that is too far removed from us." She folded her arms.
"What matters is keeping Soul Society stable and doing your jobs as Shinigami. Whoever wants to call themselves ruler of the world can fight over that nonsense without me."
Yoruichi nodded. "Agreed. I'm not throwing away everything I have now because of some ancestor I've never met."
Byakuya offered no lengthy speech, but his answer was equally clear, and before long, the others reached the same conclusion.
They would stand with Kazuma.
"We'll follow the Captain-Commander's decision."
"Same here!"
Rukia's enthusiastic contribution earned her several looks.
Kazuma's mouth twitched.
This girl really could turn anything into a spectacle!
With that settled, the conversation moved on to a far more practical matter: what happened to the Tsunayashiro Clan's holdings once they were removed?
A Great Noble Clan had accumulated an enormous amount of wealth, property, authority, and political influence over the centuries.
None of it could simply be left unattended.