24

Yamamoto said a few more words of encouragement before all the captains left with their lieutenants. Ren stayed behind and asked to speak with the captain-commander in private for a few minutes.

They talked for over 20 minutes until Ren came out of the room with a smile on his face and two pieces of paper in his hand. Behind him was Chōjirō with a shocked face and Yamamoto with a tired face as if he had just gone through a rough business deal.

"Captain. You know that I will rarely if ever question you but why would you agree with his request? He might end up wiping out the entire 8th division!"

Yamamoto was stroking his beard to calm himself down. He knew that what Ren requested was unreasonable and downright insane. But if his plan worked out, the 8th division would grow to new heights.

Yamamoto let out a sigh and did not answer Chōjirō. The man also sensed that he was troubling Yamamoto by asking his questions so he stopped prying and only hoped that Ren would not betray Yamamoto's trust.

Ren left the first division and went toward the Kido Corps barracks. He went to visit the reception area that processed requests and presented one of the two pieces of paper Ren got from Yamamoto. When the receptionist read it, she told Ren that he had to speak with one of the vice-commanders about his request.

Ren agreed and followed her instructions to go and meet one of the vice-commanders. Ren walked into the office without knocking and saw the fat commander naked with two women who he assumed were members of the corps.

Ren decided that was perfect blackmail material to get his request processed. Ren walked away with written permission to take away 5 members of the Kido Corps of his choice for the next year.

Ren chose Tessai and greeted the student he had not seen for many years. The pair had a short reunion before Ren explained what he needed from Tessai. The man was shocked by his teacher's plan but went along with it and recommended the other 4 members.

The 5 of them would meet up with Ren the next day. Ren left the Kido Corps in a happy mood before he left for the logistic division and gave them his other letter. Since his request was not too excessive, they were able to get everything he wanted in an hour and put them in a large box.

While they were putting together what he needed, Ren went toward the forest where he was trained Yoruichi and Kisuke. He went to the cave where they would leave messages in case they were unable to talk or had issues before their monthly meetings.

Ren carved his message on the wall before he went back to the logistic division to pick up his order. Ren carried the large wooden box back to the 8th division before he went into his office and spent the entire night working on something.

By the time that morning came around, Ren was exhausted in the office and had hundreds or even thousands of letters. Each of these was a pink slip that was also a recommendation letter. With all of them written out, Ren was ready to enact the first part of his plan to make the 8th division the most powerful division.

Ren called all the officers and members of the 8th to the training field where he stood with his letters in a pile on one side of himself with the box on the other side of himself.

"Listen up! The 8th division is going under a major change under my lead. I wish to lead the strongest division.

Not just like the 11th who focused on sword skills but the best all-rounded division that is the elite of all the divisions.

And in order to do that, I have gotten permission from Captain Yamamoto to take the entire division into Hueco Mundo for six months!"

As soon as he said this, the entire training hall was filled with silence. Then there was noise!

"What!"

"This is insane!"

"You can't force us to go there for an entire 6 months!"

"That's right! The longest anyone has been there was a month and that was through 3 divisions working together!"

More voices kept piling on and voicing their complaints about the matter. Almost no one wanted to join in the campaign.

"Silence!!!" Ren yelled. He also unleashed his reiatsu to quiet down the surrounded shinigami. All of them felt fear and pressure from Ren so they had no choice but to quiet down.

"You all have a choice. On my left are termination/recommendation letters for you to use to join the other divisions. With Captain Okuda's history as well as the shortage of shinigami, I'm sure that you will be able to get into another squad.

On my right are red hachimaki. This means that you will be a probationary member of the new division 8 and are willing to put your life on the line to become a true member.

Those who held or are holding the position of officer come up and choose first. If you do not choose within the next 2 minutes, you will walk away with neither the letter nor hachimaki. Pick. Now!"

The officers looked at each other before almost all of them walked up and grabbed a letter. The only officer who did not get a letter was the previous 13th seat. This was a young woman with purple hair. She grabbed the hachimaki and was the only officer to do so.

After the officers grabbed their letters, they stood near the exit of the training field to wait for their former members to make their choice.

"The rest of you, make your choice. You have 5 minutes!"

The other shinigami made their choices fast. Out of the about 3,000 initial members, 700 decided to stay. The rest had left with the officers to go looking for their new division.

Ren looked at his remaining members to evaluate them and was actually pleased by how many stayed.

'Over 20 percent stayed? Much better than I thought. Now to turn them into true Bloodletters, I need to let them get bathed in blood.'