88 88: Voting for Captains

Over the next hour, Ren spent his time traveling around and purging Soul Society. With each swing of his blade, someone was bound to die. With each release of a technique, even more died.

The only Ren stopped after an hour was the fact that Yamamoto had broken through the barrier around the first division and made his move. Ren was unable to kill everyone he wanted to but he had at least gotten rid of all the corrupt captains and had even managed to assassinate every member of the Central 46 without leaving a trace behind.

For the next few hours, the members of the first division poured out with their full strength and backed up all the divisions who were still battling.

By dawn the next day, the invasion was over with all the surviving Quincy having retreated to the human realm. But this battle was not without a cost. Yamamoto sat in his office and looked at the officers in front of him before reading the report to confirm all the major deaths.

" We have lost 8 captains, 5 lieutenants, 28 officers, over 5,000 shinigami, 4 minor noble clans, and all the members of the Central 46. This has been such a tragic loss."

The only captains who had survived the attack were Yamamoto, Unohana, the current Kuchiki, the current Kenpachi, and Ren. Although Ren had killed 3 captains, the other 5 died from the Quincy and the Bounts.

With such severe losses... this was the first time that anything of this scale had happened before. If it was normal Quincy, it would have been fine. But at least 15 Quincy had used their Letzt Stil as a last resort for suicide attacks against other captains.

The only 2 divisions that were, relatively, unharmed were the 1st and 8th. The first since they had been sealed up for half of the battle while the 8th left their top officers to do most of the work while the rest defended the division.

All the captains kept silent in that situation. None of them knew what to say. It was Ren who first spoke up.

"I get we are sad and everything but we can't dwell on that. We have other things to worry about. 4 minor noble clans died but their zanpakuto are missing.

We also need to replace the other captains and officers ASAP in case the hollows or fullbringers become a threat. We also need to replace the Central 46 members as soon as possible."

None of the other 4 had anything to say to that. They knew that it was the truth and they needed to consolidate their forces as soon as they could.

"I agree," Unohana said. "Since we are the 5 remaining members, let us each nominate a person or two to take over the positions of other seats."

Everyone took a few minutes to decide how many votes each person got. As the oldest and most powerful 3, Unohana, Yamamoto, and Ren each got two spots while the remaining pair each got one person that they could recommend. If the person was found unqualified by at least 3 other members, that original voter would need to choose another person.

Yamamoto went first. Unsurprising to Ren or Unohana, Yamamoto recommended both of his students, Ukitake and Shunsui. He said that both had already achieved bankai and were fit for duty.

No one had an issue with either of the pair becoming captains. They had been under Yamamoto's care for almost 2,000 years. They were also rare dual-wielding zanpakuto users. Ukitake was given the position of captain of the 13th division while Shunsui was put in command of the 7th.

Next was Unohana since she had the most seniority after Yamamoto. Her recommendations were Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and Shinji Hirako. Both were very competent lieutenants who had severed under other captains. Although she did not know if either of them had achieved bankai, both had the potential to achieve it so they were given their positions. Rojuro was made captain of the 3rd division while Shinji was made captain of the 5th.

Ren passed and allowed for Kuchiki and Kenpachi to go first. Each of the captains recommended the remaining two members of the Vizard who would become captains of the 10th and 9th divisions.

The last two captain positions were for the 2nd and 12th divisions and for Ren to pick who he wanted. After taking a few minutes to think it over, Ren made his decision.

He decided to be petty.

"I recommend Yoruichi Shihoin for the position of captain of the 2nd division while we give the position of captain of the 12th division to Kirio Hikifune.

Both have shown great performance in the past and have each mastered bankai."

The others were surprised to hear that Ren had recommended Kirio instead of Kisuke as the captain of the 12th division. They could understand Yorouchi being recommended for the position of captain but they were unsure of why he recommended Kirio.

"Why not Kisuke? He has shown great potential," questioned Unohana.

'Because that brat wants to rebel against me? Cause I am petty? Can't give either of those as answers.'

"Because Kisuke has just started the SRDI. Putting him in charge of a division and the research institute would be too tiring. While Yoruichi is also in charge of another organization, it is an older one and has strong roots. There is no need to worry about her ability to manage both or even combine the two to make up for numbers we lost during the invasion.

The SRDI is still too small and underdeveloped to full incorporate with a division. But with Kirio being the Vice-president of the Institute and captain of the 12th division, she could slowly bring the two together while it grows. In a hundred years or so, we should have the institute fully combine with the 12th division. "

His answer was remarkable and no one could find a flaw in it. Yoruichi had been trained from a young age to be a leader while Kisuke had not. Her ability to multi-task was surely greater than his.

Soon, the news spread across Seireitei about the appointment of the new captains. When Kisuke heard the news, he knew the real reason why Ren had not chosen him instead of the official one.

"Fuck you!" he shouted in his laboratory with only Tessai and Yoruichi able to hear his curses. Ren had truly dealt a low blow this time.