One Final Conversation with Aizen
A little later, Yamamoto received the information that Aizen was successfully sealed away, resulting in him stopping the battle.
Looking around the battlefield, he could only sigh and sigh again due to this being the weirdest battle he had ever participated in.
While he was fighting against Hinata and Naruto, the earth sphere surrounding Hisoka and Tatsuya had grumbled away, revealing two very exhausted-looking women who seemed to be too exhausted to continue fighting, as both of their transformations grumbled away, signalizing that they were out of juice.
He offhandedly noticed that the faces appeared to share a healthy glow, but after thinking about it for a brief moment, he concluded that their faces simply were flushed red due to the duo's exhaustion.
Frankly, the moment a Shinigami noticed a Hollow, especially an Arrancar, they were supposed to engage them immediately, but what was with the current situation?
'What in the world is happening?'
The reason Yamamoto found this war so weird was exactly the current situation: Rangiku was happily chatting with the three Arrancar she previously fought, Hinata was engaging in a conversation with Harribel, while Hisoka seemed to have befriended her opposing Arrancacr as well.
Obviously, his first instinct was getting rid of the remaining Arrancar, but after realizing that Yuna seemed to have forged a bond with Harribel, he discarded that thought.
Getting in conflict with not only Yuna but Hinata and Naruto as well simply wasn't worth getting rid of one or two captain-level Hollows.
Shaking his head with a wry smile on his face, Yamamoto decided to stop thinking about the situation. After all, the war was won, there were no causalities on his side, and the enemy's side seemingly didn't even hold a grudge. Everything worked out just fine, so why bother reigniting the flames of conflict?
A few days later, deeply hidden underneath Seireitei, a single man...woman... was tightly bound on a chair, making it impossible for her to move.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard, and if the woman could control her facial expressions, she would frown at that, as she didn't expect anyone to visit her in her confinement.
"Yo, Aizen~ I decided to pay a visit~"
"..."
However, no answer came, as Aizen was tightly sealed up, making it impossible for her to speak. However, just when she decided to ignore the intruder, she felt a few of the seals weakening, making it possible for her to speak.
"Yuna Uzumaki. How did you even get permission to get here, and they even allowed you to unseal a few of my seals?"
"Mah, yeah. Well, I wouldn't exactly call it 'getting permission'. "
"Mhh? What do you mean?"
"Well, long story short, I snuck in~"
Yet again, Aizen could only be dumbfounded by Yuna's actions. After all, she was currently contained in the most secure part of Seireitei. How in the world could an outsider possibly sneak in here? However, she quickly dismissed all the questions roaming her mind for the sake of asking something else.
"Why are you? Do you want to mock me even further than you have already done?"
"Hehe, not at all; in fact, I came here to thank you."
"Thank me? For what?"
Seeing the confusion in Aizen's eyes, Yuna chuckled in amusement as she spread her arms widely with a large smile on her face.
"Well, it's for following all of my plans so perfectly all this time~"
Naturally, those words only made Aizen frown, as she had no idea since when she had supposedly been following any plans Yuna might have made. Hell, she didn't even know any of Yuna's plans.
Yuna's grin widened even further as she flicked her wrist, causing a fox mask to appear in her hand. It was rather small and clearly was made for a child, but seeing that mask caused Aizen to frown, as she felt like he remembered seeing it before.
"Hehe, I guess just seeing it isn't enough for you to remember, as it was a long time ago, and you probably didn't deem the event as too important. Mhh~ What was a gesture again? Oh, right, it was this, wasn't it?"
Following those words, Yuna raised her hand and pointed two of her fingers as her own eyes before pointing her index finger at Aizen.
"Well, it's only one person this time, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, Aizen~"
Aizen's eyes widened as her memories of an event that happened over ten years ago flashed through her head.
"You are the one who saved Ichigo's mother all these years ago!?"
"Correct~ That was one of the events I wanted to prevent from happening, after all. I know you wanted Ichigo to go through a traumatizing experience while simultaneously making that Hollow something like a nemesis for him to face years later, but if it happened how you had planned it, Ichigo's psyche would have received some damage, stifling his potential."
The moment Yuna stopped speaking, Aizen squinted her eyes at Yuna, wondering how Yuna could possibly know what would happen. With Ichigo's personality, she was certain that Ichigo would settle on a path of vengeance toward the Hollow instead of negatively impacting his psyche.
"How would you know that? Aren't you just guessing Ichigo's reaction just as much as I do? No, even more important, how would you even know about what I had planned for him? At that point in time, you weren't even a Shinigami, so it was impossible for you to know about me."
"Indeed, your words ring true. Unfortunately, there is one aspect about me you are not aware of~"
Yet again, Aizen could only frown as Yuna happily continued the conversation. Simultaneously, she was looking forward to Yuna revealing one of her secrets, as Aizen was certain there were multiple of those.
Yuna smirked at Aizen as her deep purple eyes seemed to shine with untold wisdom and knowledge, briefly startling Aizen.
"I can see the future~"
The moment those words left Yuna's mouth, Aizen wanted to call her out on her bullshit, but the problem was, she really couldn't.
To Aizen, Yuna had always felt incredibly uncanny. Aizen had always gotten the impression that Yuna could unravel all of Aizen's secrets with a single glance while simultaneously knowing what she really shouldn't know about.
If it were any other person claiming that they could see the future, Aizen would have immediately dismissed it, but with Yuna, she couldn't. There were simply too many weird things about her, to just dismiss such a claim.
Thinking back on all the things Aizen had planned for so far, it did indeed seem that Yuna would always take a backseat, allowing Aizen to execute every scheme she had to make Ichigo grow stronger.
'So she knew about my plans all along? Then why didn't she stop me earlier? Hell, she could even stop me from acquiring the Hogyoku in the first place.'
"You can see the future? I'm not certain if I should even believe you in the first place, but what does that have to do with anything? The only thing that could explain is why you knew about my plans. But how did that result in my actions overlapping with what you planned?"
"Hehe, very well, let me tell you about all the things I accomplished in this war, why I wanted to accomplish them, and how you helped me with doing so."
Yuna couldn't help but laugh out loud as a chair made out of ice grew from the ground, allowing her to sit down with a relaxed smile on her face.
"First of all, who are the people I was cautious of and could get in the way of my plans: Ichigo, Yamamoto, Kenpachi, Retsu, the Hogyoku, and you. That being said, Ichigo lost his powers, and Yamamoto now has a lot of trust in me due to defeating you. Kenpachi is only interested in a good battle, so he doesn't matter, and Retsu is someone I already seduced, making her a non-factor as well. Finally, by allowing Ichigo to continue powering up through your plans, I even managed to get rid of you and the Hogyoku, who are now firmly sealed down here."
The more Yuna talked, the more uneasy Aizen felt, as she realized that the only people who could still possibly resist Yuna were people who had a lot of trust in her, bringing her into a position where she could easily seize a lot of power.
"What are you planning? What is your final goal in all of this?"
"Now, now, let's not get hasty~ Anyway, that was the Shinigami side, but we haven't even talked about the Arrancar side yet. Hehe, Harribel is another woman I have already seduced, while Hisoka is someone I have known for a long time now. In conclusion, I'm currently indirectly ruling Hueco Mundo.
That being said, I'm not quite at that point for Seireitei yet, so a few Captains will face a few... unfortunate... deaths~"
For now, Aizen kept quiet as a solemn expression appeared on her face when Yuna mentioned ruling over Hueco Mundo, but when she talked about a few Captains dying, she truly wondered just how twisted Yuna's mind was.
'She wants to assassinate captain-level Shinigami within Seireitei? What a joke. That is utterly impo... no way! Hinata!?'
Seeing Aizen's expression twisting from ridicule to shock to disbelief, Yuna laughed out loud, clearly enjoying the situation as she could easily tell what Aizen was thinking about.
"That's right, Hinata. Didn't you find it weird that I somehow was accompanied by someone with such outrageous stealth capabilities? Hehe, that's right, from the very start, I always intended for her to get rid of the Captains that were in my way~"
Aizen's eyes widened in terror as she realized just how far-reaching Yuna's schemes were. However, despite the aversion she felt, there was one question Aizen just couldn't help but ask.
"Why are you doing all of this?"
"Good question. One might reasonably think I'm doing all of this to gain power, but that isn't it at all. All I do is for the greater good."
"T-The greater good?"
"Yes. Wandenreich, does that ring a bell?"
"Wandenreich? That old legend about the deceased Quincy King returning one day? I have little interest in the delusions of a wiped-out race."
"Indeed, but unfortunately, all those stories are true. The Quincy King will return, and it will be a massacre. Without my intervention, Seireitei will collapse, and the balance of the world will tilt, ultimately leading to total destruction."
"Nonsense, the Shinigami repelled the Quincy once, and they will do so again!"
As Aizen was getting more and more agitated, Yuna could only shake her head with a sad smile on her face while secretly grinning in amusement.
"Normally, that would indeed be the case, but unfortunately, this time, the Quincy will have a method to rid a Shinigami of their Bankai, stealing it for themselves to use."
Those words instantly silenced Aizen, as she had no trouble imagining how powerless a Captain would feel when their precious Bankai was stolen away, as that would utterly cripple their combat power.
"In that case, why are you doing all of this? What is your purpose?"
"Hehe, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Quincy's natural enemy is a Hollow, to the degree that even injecting a little of a Hollow's Spiritual power into a Quincy could turn out to be lethal."
Following Yuna's words, Aizen simply nodded her head. She was aware of that, as she went through plenty of experiments in that regard. Seeing Aizen nod, Yuna continued her explanation.
"So, that being said, our main force should obviously consist of Hollow. However, a normal Hollow obviously won't make it far, so after inspecting how the Hogyoku works, I realized how to properly fuse a Shinigami and a Hollow's power, resulting in what Harribel had displayed earlier.
The end result should be multiple Hollow, capable of using their Bankai. I have no doubt that a Bankai used by a Hollow is not something the Quincy will be able to steal, possibly even damaging them if they were to try.
That being said, there is an obvious problem there: The amount of Hollow I can help to evolve to that level is simply too low, so I'll have to help a new batch grow up as fast as possible to prepare for the war. Initially, I planned to use the Arrancar you already created, but unfortunately, the method I used to help Harribel become a proper Arrancar wouldn't work as smoothly on the other Arrancar, resulting in the need for a fresh batch.
That being said, what is the best way to make a Hollow grow stronger, Aizen?"
Silenced briefly reigned between Yuna and Aizen as Aizen carefully analyzed Yuna's words. However, the more she thought about all the information she had just received, the paler she got, and seconds later, she finally resumed speaking.
"The best way for a Hollow to grow stronger is by consuming a Shinigami. You... You want to sacrifice Shinigami for the sake of making the Hollow side stronger to combat the Quincy!"
"Now, now, 'sacrifice' is such a harsh word. Let's formulate it as sending Shinigami on missions that might be a little hard for them to succeed in, okay~"
"YOU ARE INSANE!!!"
Although Aizen honestly didn't care too much about the other Shinigami, let's not forget that even during this war, not a single Shinigami died, making it clear that she had at least some attachment to the Shinigami within Seireitei.
So, hearing that Yuna planned to sacrifice probably outrageous amounts of them for the sake of making a bunch of Hollow stronger, how could he not be outraged?
However, hearing Aizen's accusation, Yuna only looked at him with indifference before she resumed speaking.
"Yes I am, but in the end, it's all for the greater good.
Ichigo had to go because he was too soft to sacrifice a thousand to save a million. The same rings true for Yamamoto, who had grown soft in recent years and will be removed soon. I'm aware that neither Retsu nor Kenpachi would care, so there is no problem with them helping out during the attack. Finally, there is you, Aizen, and seeing how you reacted to the information I just gave you, allowing you to get sealed was the correct choice.
It's a pity I won't be able to recruit you in my fight against the Wandenreich, but in the end, everything is fine.
Everything went according to keika...*cough* my plan."
The moment Yuna finished speaking, she turned around and walked away while Aizen continued yelling at her, calling her crazy for being willing to sacrifice too many people for such an insane plan; however, Yuna simply ignored him.
Around five minutes later, Yuna managed to find a quiet place and...
"HAHAHAHA, DID YOU SEE HIS F*CKING FACE!!!"
... immediately broke down and started laughing her ass off.
[Hehe, that god complex of his sure slipped away quickly, didn't it~]
[GAHAHA~ SO FUN~]
It took Yuna a full ten minutes to regain her bearing, and after wiping away the tears that spilled out of her eyes due to laughing too much, another brief chuckle escaped her before she decided to return to the world of the living.
'Man, messing with people with a god complex is always fun, but I guess it's time to return home for now.
I wonder what the next incident will be~"
[Don't you already know that due to Hisoka?]
'Hehe~'