Chapter 32: Seireitei Close to Collapsing?
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Chapter 32: Seireitei Close to Collapsing?
A few more days passed, and deep in the headquarter of Seireitei's Eight Division, a middle-aged man wearing a woman's kimono was sitting on the ground in front of a small table and leisurely sipping from a sake cup.
"Haa~ This is how life should be."
As those words left his mouth, he looked skyward at the snow that was gently falling all around him, causing him to smile leisurely.
Coincidently, part of the Eight Division's buildings was close enough to be hit by Yuna's snowstorm. Although things got rather nasty while the blizzard rampaged, the middle-aged man enjoyed the gentle snowfall.
However, the quiet atmosphere vanished rather quickly as a stern-looking woman with glasses approached him with a serious expression.
"Oh~ Nono-chan, come over here and give me a kiss~"
Instead of a kiss, the woman smacked a block of paper in his face, which he quickly grabbed before it could fall to the ground.
"Captain Kyoraku, here are more reports about people getting hit by cakes."
Ignoring the screech of terror in the background, Shunsui chuckled in amusement as he took another sip of sake. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.
"Oh well, it is how it is, Nanao."
However, Nanao ignored her Captain's disinterested words as she adjusted her glasses and continued speaking.
"These ones are within Seireitei, not in the world of the living."
"*PFFF* WAHT!?"
Shunsui performed a splendid spit-take, forcing Nanao to dodge to the side while glaring at her Captain.
"A-Are you certain!? The culprit is here, in Seireitei!?"
Nanao simply nodded her head as she resumed her explanation.
"Yes. It appears that the different Division initially kept the incidents to themself, probably for the same reason we didn't report anything about it, but since things kept escalating more and more, the lower-ranked Shinigami started talking with other Divisions and it became very clear that the scale of incidents is far beyond what we had expected."
Naturally, Shunsui was dumbfounded by what he had just heard. What he found especially weird was that he had not gotten any reports about this earlier.
As if she could read his mind, a scowl appeared on Nanao's face as she continued her report.
"So far, none of our Division's Shinigami have been hit within Seireitei; I assume the culprit did that, so we only find out about this later on."
Hearing Nanao's assumption, Shunsui gritted his teeth in anger while nodding his head.
"Damnit, because every Division is prideful, none admitted to being pranked. I bet quite a few of the individual Shinigami didn't report that they were hit either, which would mean things are actually worse than we expected. However, with so many incidents, we surely have their face now, right?"
Hearing Shunsui's question, Nanao sadly lowered her head and answered him.
"Unfortunately, we don't."
Shunsui sighed deeply when Nanao denied his question as he raised his cup, taking another sip.
"*Sigh* We might actually have the same problem we have with the number of incidents: Someone might have seen the culprit's face, but they were pranked as well, resulting in their pride stopping them from reporting the incident."
Nanao's eyes widened as she frantically started shaking her head, not believing that someone would not report the intruder's appearance just for the sake of their pride. That was completely different from reporting that you were pranked.
"Would someone really do that? Isn't that almost treason?"
"Well, lower-ranked Shinigami probably would report the incident, but what if a Captain got pranked? For example, do you think that Captain Kurotsuchi would be willing to report that he got humiliated?"
Nanao gritted her teeth after hearing Shunsui's question, and after only a few seconds of thinking about it, she shook her head. She didn't believe he would make a report like that.
Seeing Nanao shake her head, Shunsui sighed deeply as he leisurely leaned back, allowing his back to touch the snow-filled ground.
"*Sigh* This is such a hassle. Worst of all, Captains are the most likely to see the intruder but are also the ones least likely to report what had happened in case the intruder got away. Especially if the intruder had managed to prank them."
"D-Do you really think the intruder could trick a Captain? Wouldn't that mean they are at least as strong as one?"
"Nanao, they have been rampaging through Seireitei for around a week now, and we still don't even know how they look. It would be more surprising if they didn't have Captain-level strength, and I'm talking about one of the stronger ones."
Nanao couldn't help but grit her teeth as soon as Shunsui stopped talking. Indeed, she didn't want it to be true, but no matter how she looked at it, the intruder was at Captain-level. And, worse of all, if they were truly the ones responsible for Captain Unohana's disappearance, then Seireitei was in deep shit.
Nanao might not know about who Captain Unohana really is, but she at least knew that she was one of the older Shinigami in the city.
"*Sigh* can't things just return to being peaceful?"
Nanao was just about to leave Shunsui alone when another Shinigami hastily ran towards them, causing the duo to glance at each other briefly.
' 'More trouble.' '
"C-C-Captain Kyoraku! S-S-Something outragous happened!"
Hearing the Shinigami's words, Shunsui could only sigh deeply while holding his head. He could already feel a headache coming.
Hearing his girlfriend's question, Naruto awkwardly scratched his head while a mild chuckle escaped his lips.
"Honestly? I'm not entirely sure. Anko always called it Hinata's first wife sense, but I have no idea how that actually works. The only thing I know is that it's pretty accurate."
"Anko? Who is that?"
"Oh? That's just one of nee-san's women."
"Huh? Seriously? Why have I never seen her before?"
"Well, that's a little complicated. How about I tell you about it when this mess is over?"
A frown appeared on Tatsuki's face when she noticed Naruto didn't want to talk about it, but she still nodded in satisfaction when he offered to tell her later. Considering there were currently quite a few people around them, she simply assumed that Naruto didn't want other people to hear the story.
"Anyway, Yuna and Hinata's weirdness aside, we should get moving. That explosion is a nice distraction for us to get into the city."
Hearing Yoruichi's words, everyone simply nodded their head as they prepared themselves to enter the city through the massive hole Yuna had left in the wall previously. Usually, a lot of Shinigami would mingle around it, preventing outsiders from entering while doing repair work, but now, all of them were going towards the previous explosion with their curiosity overpowering their sense of duty.
While Naruto's group was walking towards the damaged wall, Hinata was rushing through the city at high speed. She had long passed the wall and was currently using [Flash Step] to travel through Seireitei at maximum speed toward the place she assumed Yuna to be at: In the middle of the snowstorm. Usually, that was a pretty good first step when trying to find Yuna.
So, she quickly arrived at the relevant location but couldn't help but frown when she ended up at a dead end. She meticulously scanned the wall, and after doing so for a few minutes, her eyes shone in understanding. She might not be as good with Kido as Yuna, but that didn't mean she could find a hidden door as long as she knew where she was supposed to look for it.
So, a few minutes later, the entrance to the hidden cave opened yet again, allowing Hinata to pass through it. After walking down a set of stairs for a few minutes, she arrived at a vast underground space that had snow gently falling from the ceiling, resulting in her head nodding in acknowledgment.
"Well, I don't know if Yuna is here, but it is rather certain that she at least had been here before."
Realizing that, she was eagerly walking toward the middle of the cave, but before she could reach it, someone appeared behind her, pressing a blade to her neck.
"Who are you?"
However, to the surprise of the attacker, Hinata melted away, only leaving a puddle of water behind.
"What the h..."
Before the attacker could figure out what just happened, their instinct flared as they dodged to the side, resulting in a thin blade leaving a gash on her hip, which they healed by simply swiping their finger over it.
The attacker looked around, but to their surprise, they couldn't see Hinata nor detect her presence. Instead of being afraid of the unknown enemy that, without a doubt, was hiding her presence, an insanity-ridden small smile appeared on the attacker's face.
"Hoo? To think someone could reach such a high level of stealth. I'm impressed."
No sound could be heard in the underground cave as the attacker was slowly looking around, sword in hand and ready to strike, when a deep sigh echoed through the cave, causing the attacker to frown as Hinata appeared a few meters away from her.
"You are one of Yuna's women, aren't you? The name's Hinata; I'm one of Yuna's wives."
Hearing Hinata's words, her attacker briefly paused, thinking whether they should continue attacking anyway or not, before smiling and sheathing their blade. There was no need to be hasty; they could fight any time they wished, but now it was time for introductions.
"Retsu Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division and, as you have mentioned, one of Yuna's women."
Hearing Unohana's name, Hinata could only smile wryly. Although she had already suspected her identity, considering Retsu was supposed to be a healer, Hinata had some doubts about her identity. Meanwhile, Retsu couldn't help but smile happily while thinking about her small exchange with Hinata.
"Yuna told me that there are more people that could match me by her side. Honestly, I didn't fully believe her for quite a while, but now, briefly fighting you, I know her words were true."
Hinata simply shrugged her shoulders as she walked toward Retsu at a leisurely pace.
"So you are one of those that love battle, huh? No wonder Yuna got interested in you. Personally, I don't mind fighting you a few rounds, but as you have undoubtedly noticed, I'm more of an assassin type, so fighting me might not fight your taste. Well, I can fight head-on as well, but it's not my specialty."
Retsu couldn't help but smile as Hinata claimed she wouldn't mind fighting her. Obviously, she noticed Hinata's preferred combat style being stealth-based and didn't mind in the slightest. She loved fighting, no matter in what form. As for more or less forcing Hinata into a fighting style, she didn't prefer to make fighting more fun; Retsu was a little conflicted.
"That's fine; I love fighting. No need to fight in a way you are not comfortable with."
Hinata smiled lightly as she passed Retsu, resulting in her turning around as well as the duo moving side by side towards the middle of the room, where Hinata could already feel more presences.
"I wouldn't say that I'm not comfortable with it, as I frequently have sparring matches with Yuna using the head-on approach; I'll just be a little weaker than I should be."
Retsu's steps briefly faltered after hearing that Hinata apparently fought Yuna frequently. Frankly, she was a little jealous as she perceived the fight she had with Yuna as the most fun she had ever had. Someone else having that kind of experience frequently naturally didn't make her happy.
Obviously, Hinata noticed Retsu's mood change and chuckled in amusement.
"Well, what are you getting all gloomy for? I bet you already planned when you would challenge Yuna again, right? How about we fight her together the next time?"
Hearing Hinata's words, a glint passed through Retsu's eyes as the brief hope of actually defeating Yuna appeared in her mind. Frankly, she wasn't a fan of defeating someone in a two-against-one battle, but she also realized that Yuna was simply too strong for her to defeat by herself. Despite that, Retsu shook her head at Hinata's offer as the duo's eyes met.
"Although I admit that a two-against-one would be fun, but I think I would like to fight you first. I want to see the strength of those that stand by Yuna's side."
Although Hinata was slightly surprised by Retsu's words, in the end, she could only smile.
"I see; in that case, you better be ready."
As she finished speaking, Hinata's Spiritual Pressure erupted out of her and covered the whole cave, causing Retsu to smile, battle hunger clearly visible on her face.
'Oh yes, I think I'll enjoy staying with Yuna's group.'
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Chapter 32: Seireitei Close to Collapsing?
A few more days passed, and deep in the headquarter of Seireitei's Eight Division, a middle-aged man wearing a woman's kimono was sitting on the ground in front of a small table and leisurely sipping from a sake cup.
"Haa~ This is how life should be."
As those words left his mouth, he looked skyward at the snow that was gently falling all around him, causing him to smile leisurely.
Coincidently, part of the Eight Division's buildings was close enough to be hit by Yuna's snowstorm. Although things got rather nasty while the blizzard rampaged, the middle-aged man enjoyed the gentle snowfall.
However, the quiet atmosphere vanished rather quickly as a stern-looking woman with glasses approached him with a serious expression.
"Oh~ Nono-chan, come over here and give me a kiss~"
Instead of a kiss, the woman smacked a block of paper in his face, which he quickly grabbed before it could fall to the ground.
"Captain Kyoraku, here are more reports about people getting hit by cakes."
Ignoring the screech of terror in the background, Shunsui chuckled in amusement as he took another sip of sake. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.
"Oh well, it is how it is, Nanao."
However, Nanao ignored her Captain's disinterested words as she adjusted her glasses and continued speaking.
"These ones are within Seireitei, not in the world of the living."
"*PFFF* WAHT!?"
Shunsui performed a splendid spit-take, forcing Nanao to dodge to the side while glaring at her Captain.
"A-Are you certain!? The culprit is here, in Seireitei!?"
Nanao simply nodded her head as she resumed her explanation.
"Yes. It appears that the different Division initially kept the incidents to themself, probably for the same reason we didn't report anything about it, but since things kept escalating more and more, the lower-ranked Shinigami started talking with other Divisions and it became very clear that the scale of incidents is far beyond what we had expected."
Naturally, Shunsui was dumbfounded by what he had just heard. What he found especially weird was that he had not gotten any reports about this earlier.
As if she could read his mind, a scowl appeared on Nanao's face as she continued her report.
"So far, none of our Division's Shinigami have been hit within Seireitei; I assume the culprit did that, so we only find out about this later on."
Hearing Nanao's assumption, Shunsui gritted his teeth in anger while nodding his head.
"Damnit, because every Division is prideful, none admitted to being pranked. I bet quite a few of the individual Shinigami didn't report that they were hit either, which would mean things are actually worse than we expected. However, with so many incidents, we surely have their face now, right?"
Hearing Shunsui's question, Nanao sadly lowered her head and answered him.
"Unfortunately, we don't."
Shunsui sighed deeply when Nanao denied his question as he raised his cup, taking another sip.
"*Sigh* We might actually have the same problem we have with the number of incidents: Someone might have seen the culprit's face, but they were pranked as well, resulting in their pride stopping them from reporting the incident."
Nanao's eyes widened as she frantically started shaking her head, not believing that someone would not report the intruder's appearance just for the sake of their pride. That was completely different from reporting that you were pranked.
"Would someone really do that? Isn't that almost treason?"
"Well, lower-ranked Shinigami probably would report the incident, but what if a Captain got pranked? For example, do you think that Captain Kurotsuchi would be willing to report that he got humiliated?"
Nanao gritted her teeth after hearing Shunsui's question, and after only a few seconds of thinking about it, she shook her head. She didn't believe he would make a report like that.
Seeing Nanao shake her head, Shunsui sighed deeply as he leisurely leaned back, allowing his back to touch the snow-filled ground.
"*Sigh* This is such a hassle. Worst of all, Captains are the most likely to see the intruder but are also the ones least likely to report what had happened in case the intruder got away. Especially if the intruder had managed to prank them."
"D-Do you really think the intruder could trick a Captain? Wouldn't that mean they are at least as strong as one?"
"Nanao, they have been rampaging through Seireitei for around a week now, and we still don't even know how they look. It would be more surprising if they didn't have Captain-level strength, and I'm talking about one of the stronger ones."
Nanao couldn't help but grit her teeth as soon as Shunsui stopped talking. Indeed, she didn't want it to be true, but no matter how she looked at it, the intruder was at Captain-level. And, worse of all, if they were truly the ones responsible for Captain Unohana's disappearance, then Seireitei was in deep shit.
Nanao might not know about who Captain Unohana really is, but she at least knew that she was one of the older Shinigami in the city.
"*Sigh* can't things just return to being peaceful?"
Nanao was just about to leave Shunsui alone when another Shinigami hastily ran towards them, causing the duo to glance at each other briefly.
' 'More trouble.' '
"C-C-Captain Kyoraku! S-S-Something outragous happened!"
Hearing the Shinigami's words, Shunsui could only sigh deeply while holding his head. He could already feel a headache coming.
Hearing his girlfriend's question, Naruto awkwardly scratched his head while a mild chuckle escaped his lips.
"Honestly? I'm not entirely sure. Anko always called it Hinata's first wife sense, but I have no idea how that actually works. The only thing I know is that it's pretty accurate."
"Anko? Who is that?"
"Oh? That's just one of nee-san's women."
"Huh? Seriously? Why have I never seen her before?"
"Well, that's a little complicated. How about I tell you about it when this mess is over?"
A frown appeared on Tatsuki's face when she noticed Naruto didn't want to talk about it, but she still nodded in satisfaction when he offered to tell her later. Considering there were currently quite a few people around them, she simply assumed that Naruto didn't want other people to hear the story.
"Anyway, Yuna and Hinata's weirdness aside, we should get moving. That explosion is a nice distraction for us to get into the city."
Hearing Yoruichi's words, everyone simply nodded their head as they prepared themselves to enter the city through the massive hole Yuna had left in the wall previously. Usually, a lot of Shinigami would mingle around it, preventing outsiders from entering while doing repair work, but now, all of them were going towards the previous explosion with their curiosity overpowering their sense of duty.
While Naruto's group was walking towards the damaged wall, Hinata was rushing through the city at high speed. She had long passed the wall and was currently using [Flash Step] to travel through Seireitei at maximum speed toward the place she assumed Yuna to be at: In the middle of the snowstorm. Usually, that was a pretty good first step when trying to find Yuna.
So, she quickly arrived at the relevant location but couldn't help but frown when she ended up at a dead end. She meticulously scanned the wall, and after doing so for a few minutes, her eyes shone in understanding. She might not be as good with Kido as Yuna, but that didn't mean she could find a hidden door as long as she knew where she was supposed to look for it.
So, a few minutes later, the entrance to the hidden cave opened yet again, allowing Hinata to pass through it. After walking down a set of stairs for a few minutes, she arrived at a vast underground space that had snow gently falling from the ceiling, resulting in her head nodding in acknowledgment.
"Well, I don't know if Yuna is here, but it is rather certain that she at least had been here before."
Realizing that, she was eagerly walking toward the middle of the cave, but before she could reach it, someone appeared behind her, pressing a blade to her neck.
"Who are you?"
However, to the surprise of the attacker, Hinata melted away, only leaving a puddle of water behind.
"What the h..."
Before the attacker could figure out what just happened, their instinct flared as they dodged to the side, resulting in a thin blade leaving a gash on her hip, which they healed by simply swiping their finger over it.
The attacker looked around, but to their surprise, they couldn't see Hinata nor detect her presence. Instead of being afraid of the unknown enemy that, without a doubt, was hiding her presence, an insanity-ridden small smile appeared on the attacker's face.
"Hoo? To think someone could reach such a high level of stealth. I'm impressed."
No sound could be heard in the underground cave as the attacker was slowly looking around, sword in hand and ready to strike, when a deep sigh echoed through the cave, causing the attacker to frown as Hinata appeared a few meters away from her.
"You are one of Yuna's women, aren't you? The name's Hinata; I'm one of Yuna's wives."
Hearing Hinata's words, her attacker briefly paused, thinking whether they should continue attacking anyway or not, before smiling and sheathing their blade. There was no need to be hasty; they could fight any time they wished, but now it was time for introductions.
"Retsu Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division and, as you have mentioned, one of Yuna's women."
Hearing Unohana's name, Hinata could only smile wryly. Although she had already suspected her identity, considering Retsu was supposed to be a healer, Hinata had some doubts about her identity. Meanwhile, Retsu couldn't help but smile happily while thinking about her small exchange with Hinata.
"Yuna told me that there are more people that could match me by her side. Honestly, I didn't fully believe her for quite a while, but now, briefly fighting you, I know her words were true."
Hinata simply shrugged her shoulders as she walked toward Retsu at a leisurely pace.
"So you are one of those that love battle, huh? No wonder Yuna got interested in you. Personally, I don't mind fighting you a few rounds, but as you have undoubtedly noticed, I'm more of an assassin type, so fighting me might not fight your taste. Well, I can fight head-on as well, but it's not my specialty."
Retsu couldn't help but smile as Hinata claimed she wouldn't mind fighting her. Obviously, she noticed Hinata's preferred combat style being stealth-based and didn't mind in the slightest. She loved fighting, no matter in what form. As for more or less forcing Hinata into a fighting style, she didn't prefer to make fighting more fun; Retsu was a little conflicted.
"That's fine; I love fighting. No need to fight in a way you are not comfortable with."
Hinata smiled lightly as she passed Retsu, resulting in her turning around as well as the duo moving side by side towards the middle of the room, where Hinata could already feel more presences.
"I wouldn't say that I'm not comfortable with it, as I frequently have sparring matches with Yuna using the head-on approach; I'll just be a little weaker than I should be."
Retsu's steps briefly faltered after hearing that Hinata apparently fought Yuna frequently. Frankly, she was a little jealous as she perceived the fight she had with Yuna as the most fun she had ever had. Someone else having that kind of experience frequently naturally didn't make her happy.
Obviously, Hinata noticed Retsu's mood change and chuckled in amusement.
"Well, what are you getting all gloomy for? I bet you already planned when you would challenge Yuna again, right? How about we fight her together the next time?"
Hearing Hinata's words, a glint passed through Retsu's eyes as the brief hope of actually defeating Yuna appeared in her mind. Frankly, she wasn't a fan of defeating someone in a two-against-one battle, but she also realized that Yuna was simply too strong for her to defeat by herself. Despite that, Retsu shook her head at Hinata's offer as the duo's eyes met.
"Although I admit that a two-against-one would be fun, but I think I would like to fight you first. I want to see the strength of those that stand by Yuna's side."
Although Hinata was slightly surprised by Retsu's words, in the end, she could only smile.
"I see; in that case, you better be ready."
As she finished speaking, Hinata's Spiritual Pressure erupted out of her and covered the whole cave, causing Retsu to smile, battle hunger clearly visible on her face.
'Oh yes, I think I'll enjoy staying with Yuna's group.'
Chapter 32: Seireitei Close to Collapsing?A few more days passed, and deep in the headquarter of Seireitei's Eight Division, a middle-aged man wearing a woman's kimono was sitting on the ground in front of a small table and leisurely sipping from a sake cup. "Haa~ This is how life should be." As those words left his mouth, he looked skyward at the snow that was gently falling all around him, causing him to smile leisurely. Coincidently, part of the Eight Division's buildings was close enough to be hit by Yuna's snowstorm. Although things got rather nasty while the blizzard rampaged, the middle-aged man enjoyed the gentle snowfall. However, the quiet atmosphere vanished rather quickly as a stern-looking woman with glasses approached him with a serious expression. "Oh~ Nono-chan, come over here and give me a kiss~" Instead of a kiss, the woman smacked a block of paper in his face, which he quickly grabbed before it could fall to the ground. "Captain Kyoraku, here are more reports about people getting hit by cakes." Ignoring the screech of terror in the background, Shunsui chuckled in amusement as he took another sip of sake. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Nvl-B!n."Oh well, it is how it is, Nanao." However, Nanao ignored her Captain's disinterested words as she adjusted her glasses and continued speaking. "These ones are within Seireitei, not in the world of the living." "*PFFF* WAHT!?" Shunsui performed a splendid spit-take, forcing Nanao to dodge to the side while glaring at her Captain. "A-Are you certain!? The culprit is here, in Seireitei!?" Nanao simply nodded her head as she resumed her explanation. "Yes. It appears that the different Division initially kept the incidents to themself, probably for the same reason we didn't report anything about it, but since things kept escalating more and more, the lower-ranked Shinigami started talking with other Divisions and it became very clear that the scale of incidents is far beyond what we had expected." Naturally, Shunsui was dumbfounded by what he had just heard. What he found especially weird was that he had not gotten any reports about this earlier. As if she could read his mind, a scowl appeared on Nanao's face as she continued her report. "So far, none of our Division's Shinigami have been hit within Seireitei; I assume the culprit did that, so we only find out about this later on." Hearing Nanao's assumption, Shunsui gritted his teeth in anger while nodding his head. "Damnit, because every Division is prideful, none admitted to being pranked. I bet quite a few of the individual Shinigami didn't report that they were hit either, which would mean things are actually worse than we expected. However, with so many incidents, we surely have their face now, right?" Hearing Shunsui's question, Nanao sadly lowered her head and answered him. "Unfortunately, we don't." Shunsui sighed deeply when Nanao denied his question as he raised his cup, taking another sip. "*Sigh* We might actually have the same problem we have with the number of incidents: Someone might have seen the culprit's face, but they were pranked as well, resulting in their pride stopping them from reporting the incident." Nanao's eyes widened as she frantically started shaking her head, not believing that someone would not report the intruder's appearance just for the sake of their pride. That was completely different from reporting that you were pranked. "Would someone really do that? Isn't that almost treason?" "Well, lower-ranked Shinigami probably would report the incident, but what if a Captain got pranked? For example, do you think that Captain Kurotsuchi would be willing to report that he got humiliated?" Nanao gritted her teeth after hearing Shunsui's question, and after only a few seconds of thinking about it, she shook her head. She didn't believe he would make a report like that. Seeing Nanao shake her head, Shunsui sighed deeply as he leisurely leaned back, allowing his back to touch the snow-filled ground. "*Sigh* This is such a hassle. Worst of all, Captains are the most likely to see the intruder but are also the ones least likely to report what had happened in case the intruder got away. Especially if the intruder had managed to prank them." "D-Do you really think the intruder could trick a Captain? Wouldn't that mean they are at least as strong as one?" "Nanao, they have been rampaging through Seireitei for around a week now, and we still don't even know how they look. It would be more surprising if they didn't have Captain-level strength, and I'm talking about one of the stronger ones." Nanao couldn't help but grit her teeth as soon as Shunsui stopped talking. Indeed, she didn't want it to be true, but no matter how she looked at it, the intruder was at Captain-level. And, worse of all, if they were truly the ones responsible for Captain Unohana's disappearance, then Seireitei was in deep shit. Nanao might not know about who Captain Unohana really is, but she at least knew that she was one of the older Shinigami in the city. "*Sigh* can't things just return to being peaceful?" Nanao was just about to leave Shunsui alone when another Shinigami hastily ran towards them, causing the duo to glance at each other briefly. ' 'More trouble.' ' "C-C-Captain Kyoraku! S-S-Something outragous happened!" Hearing the Shinigami's words, Shunsui could only sigh deeply while holding his head. He could already feel a headache coming. Hearing his girlfriend's question, Naruto awkwardly scratched his head while a mild chuckle escaped his lips. "Honestly? I'm not entirely sure. Anko always called it Hinata's first wife sense, but I have no idea how that actually works. The only thing I know is that it's pretty accurate." "Anko? Who is that?" "Oh? That's just one of nee-san's women." "Huh? Seriously? Why have I never seen her before?" "Well, that's a little complicated. How about I tell you about it when this mess is over?" A frown appeared on Tatsuki's face when she noticed Naruto didn't want to talk about it, but she still nodded in satisfaction when he offered to tell her later. Considering there were currently quite a few people around them, she simply assumed that Naruto didn't want other people to hear the story. "Anyway, Yuna and Hinata's weirdness aside, we should get moving. That explosion is a nice distraction for us to get into the city." Hearing Yoruichi's words, everyone simply nodded their head as they prepared themselves to enter the city through the massive hole Yuna had left in the wall previously. Usually, a lot of Shinigami would mingle around it, preventing outsiders from entering while doing repair work, but now, all of them were going towards the previous explosion with their curiosity overpowering their sense of duty. While Naruto's group was walking towards the damaged wall, Hinata was rushing through the city at high speed. She had long passed the wall and was currently using Flash Step to travel through Seireitei at maximum speed toward the place she assumed Yuna to be at: In the middle of the snowstorm. Usually, that was a pretty good first step when trying to find Yuna. So, she quickly arrived at the relevant location but couldn't help but frown when she ended up at a dead end. She meticulously scanned the wall, and after doing so for a few minutes, her eyes shone in understanding. She might not be as good with Kido as Yuna, but that didn't mean she could find a hidden door as long as she knew where she was supposed to look for it. So, a few minutes later, the entrance to the hidden cave opened yet again, allowing Hinata to pass through it. After walking down a set of stairs for a few minutes, she arrived at a vast underground space that had snow gently falling from the ceiling, resulting in her head nodding in acknowledgment. "Well, I don't know if Yuna is here, but it is rather certain that she at least had been here before." Realizing that, she was eagerly walking toward the middle of the cave, but before she could reach it, someone appeared behind her, pressing a blade to her neck. "Who are you?" However, to the surprise of the attacker, Hinata melted away, only leaving a puddle of water behind. "What the h..." Before the attacker could figure out what just happened, their instinct flared as they dodged to the side, resulting in a thin blade leaving a gash on her hip, which they healed by simply swiping their finger over it. The attacker looked around, but to their surprise, they couldn't see Hinata nor detect her presence. Instead of being afraid of the unknown enemy that, without a doubt, was hiding her presence, an insanity-ridden small smile appeared on the attacker's face. "Hoo? To think someone could reach such a high level of stealth. I'm impressed." No sound could be heard in the underground cave as the attacker was slowly looking around, sword in hand and ready to strike, when a deep sigh echoed through the cave, causing the attacker to frown as Hinata appeared a few meters away from her. "You are one of Yuna's women, aren't you? The name's Hinata; I'm one of Yuna's wives." Hearing Hinata's words, her attacker briefly paused, thinking whether they should continue attacking anyway or not, before smiling and sheathing their blade. There was no need to be hasty; they could fight any time they wished, but now it was time for introductions. "Retsu Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division and, as you have mentioned, one of Yuna's women." Hearing Unohana's name, Hinata could only smile wryly. Although she had already suspected her identity, considering Retsu was supposed to be a healer, Hinata had some doubts about her identity. Meanwhile, Retsu couldn't help but smile happily while thinking about her small exchange with Hinata. "Yuna told me that there are more people that could match me by her side. Honestly, I didn't fully believe her for quite a while, but now, briefly fighting you, I know her words were true." Hinata simply shrugged her shoulders as she walked toward Retsu at a leisurely pace. "So you are one of those that love battle, huh? No wonder Yuna got interested in you. Personally, I don't mind fighting you a few rounds, but as you have undoubtedly noticed, I'm more of an assassin type, so fighting me might not fight your taste. Well, I can fight head-on as well, but it's not my specialty." Retsu couldn't help but smile as Hinata claimed she wouldn't mind fighting her. Obviously, she noticed Hinata's preferred combat style being stealth-based and didn't mind in the slightest. She loved fighting, no matter in what form. As for more or less forcing Hinata into a fighting style, she didn't prefer to make fighting more fun; Retsu was a little conflicted. "That's fine; I love fighting. No need to fight in a way you are not comfortable with." Hinata smiled lightly as she passed Retsu, resulting in her turning around as well as the duo moving side by side towards the middle of the room, where Hinata could already feel more presences. "I wouldn't say that I'm not comfortable with it, as I frequently have sparring matches with Yuna using the head-on approach; I'll just be a little weaker than I should be." Retsu's steps briefly faltered after hearing that Hinata apparently fought Yuna frequently. Frankly, she was a little jealous as she perceived the fight she had with Yuna as the most fun she had ever had. Someone else having that kind of experience frequently naturally didn't make her happy. Obviously, Hinata noticed Retsu's mood change and chuckled in amusement. "Well, what are you getting all gloomy for? I bet you already planned when you would challenge Yuna again, right? How about we fight her together the next time?" Hearing Hinata's words, a glint passed through Retsu's eyes as the brief hope of actually defeating Yuna appeared in her mind. Frankly, she wasn't a fan of defeating someone in a two-against-one battle, but she also realized that Yuna was simply too strong for her to defeat by herself. Despite that, Retsu shook her head at Hinata's offer as the duo's eyes met. "Although I admit that a two-against-one would be fun, but I think I would like to fight you first. I want to see the strength of those that stand by Yuna's side." Although Hinata was slightly surprised by Retsu's words, in the end, she could only smile. "I see; in that case, you better be ready." As she finished speaking, Hinata's Spiritual Pressure erupted out of her and covered the whole cave, causing Retsu to smile, battle hunger clearly visible on her face. 'Oh yes, I think I'll enjoy staying with Yuna's group.'
