Chapter 70 - Premeditated Move

"Will the day come when you'll possess these eyes too? The day when you come to know what sadness is?" — Itachi Uchiha.

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Kisuke sat himself in one of his secret hideouts soberly pondering as he looked at the boxed jewel in his hands.

The Hōgyoku. The pinnacle of his soul research.

There were a lot of things wrong about it but the potential was undeniable and that was what Kisuke was after – the potential.

It was a way, and not limited, to increasing the evolution ladder of souls, specifically Shinigami. Though Kisuke was sure that it could work on any race. He had long since hit the cap of his evolution as a Shinigami and he knew that there was no way he could progress further and that intent that birthed the Hōgyoku. Honestly, he didn't have the slightest idea of what the Hōgyoku could and could not do. It was Schrodinger's cat in a dice roll.

He once had the fleeting idea of seeing if after developing the Hōgyoku he could increase his limits by branching his Shinigami path to a Hollow's but it was at that point that he shut down his research.

Now imagine, years later, he comes across a conspiracy of someone from his Division, Kinjaro Tomori, doing virtually the same thing. At that point, he'd been worried that somebody that discovered his research on the Hōgyoku and used it to further their inhumane experiments.

Kinjaro was executed and he thought that was the end of it but not so as a few years later another instance of Hollow-Shinigami experiments came about and this time he knew for certain that something was wrong.

If whoever was behind this could get so close to him and influence Hiyori, manipulate their devices and blindside the Kidō Corps, then it stands to considerable reason that they might have found out the Hōgyoku's existence and it's deleted data, and to his current horror, to continue his research.

"I have to destroy it." He murmured to himself as he held the glass-encased purple jewel that was the Hōgyoku and stared intently at it. His magnum opus.

He sighed. The hubris of every smart man tunneling his vision as he decided to hold on to it for the time being. Maybe he'll require its help somewhere down the line after he has thoroughly learned its capabilities.

"I knew this was where you were." He heard Yoruichi's upbeat voice one second and in the next second she was standing behind him and looking at the Hōgyoku.

"Oh, I forgot you still have that thing." Yoruichi said sourly. "Any reason why you haven't thrown it down a waterfall or something?"

He couldn't help but chuckle. If only it was that easy.

"What brings you here, Yoruichi? I see being temporarily suspended puts a lot of time on your hands." He said with a laugh but Yoruichi all but laughed, instead she frowned in great displeasure.

"That stupid Itachi. For someone so calm and reserved, he does wear his heart in his sleeves at the worst time." She rebuked and plopped down unceremoniously beside Kisuke.

Kisuke's face bore a wistful smile as he looked at Yoruichi's typical behavior. "I'm not sure if that was him wearing his heart on his sleeves. If anything he was very calm and coolheaded with the whole thing. Character traits of a great strategist."

Yoruichi swiped the Hōgyoku off Kisuke's hands into hers and looked closely at the inlaid jewel. "Are you sure someone is replicating it or just the experiments?"

"We both saw the report, Yoruichi. A normal experiment can't blend the two races of Shinigami and Hollow in such a seamless and greatly flawed way. Whoever they are, they are already taking it a step forward from where I stopped."

Yoruichi exhaled exhaustedly. Itachi hadn't spoken to either her or Soi Fon in almost a week and she understood. He wasn't been petty or anything childish, he was just focused on whatever it was that he was doing and she respected it very much that she didn't go over to visit him.

"Yoruichi, Itachi–"

"Has nothing to do with this, Kisuke. Trust me." Even if Itachi was the cause of her temporary suspension, she still considered him a close friend and a peer, hence her trust in his judgment.

"You I trust, Yoruichi. You, I trust."

Yoruichi smiled in satisfaction at his admission and spoke seriously immediately after. "Rather than worry about him, I'd advise you keep an eye open for anything that might happen. I reckon they are about to play their hand in a way to rouse chaos."

Kisuke stood up and pulled out his blade while facing Yoruichi. "And you'll be right in getting our preparations ready. So how about a little spar to pass time? It's been a while."

"Oh, you're absolutely on!"

...

In a dark lit room, Aizen sat in front of a screen with a chess board in front of him and seemingly playing against himself or an invisible opponent.

"All it takes," He picked up his knight piece and knocked over his opponent's bishop piece, "… is one move to change the tempo on the board." The opponent's king piece was just two moves away from checkmate.

He was never a fan of big and sudden moves. He preferred when they slowly took their time to germinate and bear whatever fruit he had planted in them.

A master tactician always plays the long game.

…..

Three clones of Itachi landed on the roof of a building in one of less populated parts of Seireitei while the lead clone among them raised his hand and a crow suddenly flew out from somewhere and landed on his arms and stared at him while tilting its head before it flew off.

"The targets are Aizen Sōsuke, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Kisuke Urahara, Ginrei Kuchiki and Love Aikawa."

The other clones had their questions but orders were orders. And they knew that whatever question they had was already asked and answered by the main.

"Prime targets are Aizen, Mayuri and Ginrei. As for why Ichimaru Gin, Yoruichi, Soi Fon and Hiyori are not prime targets is because of the extensive data the main has on them, at least in the case of the last three. As for Gin, he has the traits of a schemer but he is an instigator. Most likely working for someone if at all. I'm having him put his attention on the clone tailing him in the event that he ever tries to shake it off which would inadvertently lead to a bigger trail that the three clones keeping watch on Shinji, Aizen and Gin can follow without being spotted." After the semi-brief elaboration, he brought the collars of his shirt up to his nose before disappearing in a smoke. "Dismissed."

...

Sitting crossed leg in a pitch black space was Itachi's main body which no one has seen after the first hearing with Central 46 because he had somehow swapped with a clone without anyone knowing.

A pair of red eyes that contrasted sharply with the darkness opened up and stared pointedly at a spot in the dark that suddenly started emitting black wisps that his eyes captured clearly.

The black wisps flowed up and congealed to form a crow that perched on his shoulders before slowly starting to caw into his ears.

"Hopefully, we can be alerted before anything big happens. Though I highly doubt that." He said to himself. He couldn't even cover one-tenth of the Seireitei, and that was not mentioning the large expanse of the endlessly stretching landscape that was the Rukongai. It was shoddy work at best but it was what he could do.

He couldn't keep any watch on the Shinigami outside the Seireitei and that was a glaring fact Aizen knew and easily exploited.

He would have been a fool if he set to motion any of his plans inside the Seireitei, under the scrutiny of the 13 Division Captains… not that it would amount to anything even if he wanted to.

Unlike what they all thought, Aizen wasn't so easily predictable. He had a plan, yes, but not one on the magnitude of what some might have been expecting.

Itachi wore a contemplating cast while looking at the crow. "The World of the Living? I doubt it's a premeditated attack. They have all the time and advantage so they'll play the long game."

With that he closed his eyes again, meditating in complete silence if not for the rhythmic and continual cawing of his caw on his shoulder.

As souls, the concept of haste was very loose. Something happening very soon could be as far, or near, as ten or twenty years.

"Now we wait."

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