The Hunt for Aizen

Soul reapers are the beings in charge of ferrying souls to the afterlife. They are essentially the agents of Death, rather than the incarnations of the entity itself. Their effects on humans and the world of the living go largely unnoticed. Only humans with spiritual energy are seemingly the only ones who notice the soul reapers, and their duties.

These duties include transporting good souls to the afterlife, while cleansing evil souls. Evil souls that have transformed themselves into hollows are killed, and purified before being sent the afterlife. Good souls that emit strong spirit energy are sent to the Soul Society; perhaps one day, those souls would become new soul reapers.

Twenty years ago, the Soul Society, the home of the soul reapers, found itself thrown into chaos when three high ranking captains suddenly betrayed their allies, deflecting to lead an army of menos and hollows in open rebellion. Sosuke Aizen was the mastermind behind the entire operation; it was his eventual goal to overthrow the reigning king of the Soul Society, and become supreme ruler of the afterlife. In order to do this, he used the power of the hougyoku, a crystal that removes the boundary between hollows and shinigami; thus the arrancars, and their counterparts, the vizards, were born.

These chain of events, sparked a brutal war between Aizen and Soul Society, called the Winter War. When the dust had finally settled, Aizen was defeated, but not destroyed, and he managed to escape the full fury of the Soul Society. The hougyoku had been stolen from Aizen at one point; however, he managed to repossess the crystal, but not before it had been damaged.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties and losses. Nearly all of Aizen's arrancar army had been decimated; even the Espada, the strongest warriors in his army, had all been killed. The Soul Society lost two of their best captains, and one lieutenant; leaving gaping holes in many of the court squad divisions. As a result, a number of the vizards were reinstated, in order to fill the gaps that had been created.

Two decades later, the affects of the war could still be seen, as emotional burdens lay heavy on many of the soul reapers; Aizen was still alive, biding his time to attack the Soul Society again in the future.

Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto sighs, as she pulls open the door leading to her captain's barracks. Normally, he'd be the one to track her down and yell at her for not doing her job; however, her captain just wasn't the same anymore, not since the war.

She finds her captain leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk. His eyes drifted lazily from his window, to a small shrine on his desk with a photo in it.

"Captain?"

Her voice was soft as she approached. "The captain's meeting will be starting soon, just giving you a heads up."

"I'm well aware; in fact, I was just on my way out."

Toshiro's voice was dry; he never cried, or showed much emotion, but Rangiku could tell he was being torn apart on the inside. Even though two decades had passed since the war, twenty years for a soul reaper, would seem like no more than a year or two for a human.

"It wasn't your fault"

"Excuse me?" Toshiro's gaze rose to meet his lieutenants.

"Momo's death wasn't your fault, it was her decision to go out the way she did; I believe in my heart that she died happy, at least knowing that she gave her life to protect her friends."

Toshiro scoffs at the ridiculous remark.

"Happy? What a load of crap! You think Momo would be happy that she gave her life for nothing, knowing that I… no, that we failed to kill Aizen. I won't be happy for her, until I see that asshole dead!"

He slams his fist on the desk; causing Rangiku to take a step back in surprise. Toshiro looks at her solemnly.

"I'm sorry Rangiku, I shouldn't have snapped. Momo was my family, and when she died, a part of me died as well. I won't be able to move forward until Aizen pays for all the pain he's caused."

He shut the door of the shrine, and rose from his chair. Rangiku could only stare at the ground; Momo's death had caused shockwaves to rip through the hearts of the soul reapers. Even to the day, Rangiku still wept for the tragic loss of her friend.

Toshiro made his way out, and shut the door behind him.

Commander Yamamoto sits at the head of the table located in the prestigious meeting hall, reserved for acting captains only. Starting from his left, and going around the table, the rest of the captains sat in order of their divisions. Soifon from the 2nd, Retsu Unohana from the 4th, Byakuya Kuchiki from the 6th, Sajin Komamura from the 7th, Shunsui Kyōraku from the 8th, Kensei Muguruma from the 9th, Tōshirō Hitsugaya from the 10th, Yachiru Kusajishi from the 11th, Mayuri Kurotsuchi from the 12th, and Senji Hirako from the 13th.

There were two issues on the agenda, the first, as usual was Aizen. Even though he was defeated, he had still managed to escape.

"He could be in Hueco Mundo; he managed to mask his presence from us once before by hiding there" said Komamura.

"But the hougyoku was damaged, and wouldn't be any use to him if he tried to recreate his army" countered Senji.

"Maybe not" stated Mayuri.

"If Aizen could get his hands on enough power, he could repair the hougyoku using spirit energy from hollows."

"And where's he going to get this power? Out of thin air? There aren't enough hollows in Hueco Mundo to power such a feat" shot Yachiru.

Mayuri shot the girl an annoying glance, but conceded the point. Aizen would need massive amounts of energy in order to repair the hougyoku; however, there wasn't a direct source of power strong enough in Hueco Mundo to fuel the recreation.

The discussion soon dissolved into a massive argument, with each sides going back and forth on the issue. Where was Sosuke Aizen hiding? What was he planning? How would he repair the hougyoku? The war had made just about everyone bitter; there wasn't one person sitting at the table that didn't want Aizen dead.

"Silence!"

Yamamoto's voice booms over the others; silencing the other captains, giving the floor to Soifon, who proceeds to address the second issue of the captains meeting.

"I know that the war with Aizen has devoured the bulk of our attention; I'm sure all of us, myself included, will admit to neglecting our duties as soul reapers in the world of the living. Unseated officers, using immature zanpakuto, have been fulfilling those duties."

Soifon stops and takes out a large map, with an area outlined, and rolls it out across the table. She points to the area, as the other captains rise to get a better look.

"What do any of you know about this area? 980.797-744.141 is the LtLn Code"

None of the captains had ever heard of such a place; the Earth was huge, far too big for the Soul Society to cover extensively. Most of the soul reapers were assigned to places with high concentrations of hollows and pluses. Karakura Town had high concentrations of spirits, and even had several humans with large amounts of spirit energy. Karakura was classified as being a high risk area, with soul reaper safety levels being moderate; changing to dangerous once the arrancars began to appear.

"This area is in the same place as Ichigo's home town, isn't it?"

"What's so special about this place? It looks normal enough."

Shunsui looks at the map of the area; something just didn't seem right about it. The area had been marked as having a low concentration of pluses and hollows, but the safety risk for soul reapers was marked as dangerous.

"Well this doesn't make any sense, says here that this area has a low concentration of spirit energy, but it's classified as being too dangerous for low level soul reapers to enter."

"What? That's got to be some sort of error, that doesn't make any sense."

Mayuri stood, and took the map to study. He grinned, as he suddenly felt his curiosity levels begin to rise.

"Fascinating, does anyone know why this ranking would be given to such an area? It's several hundred miles from Karakura Town; and looking at all of the surrounding areas, most of them have moderately high levels of concentration, but then this area, this 980.797-744.141, has none."

"Who is the captain in charge of the area?" acquired Byakuya.

"That would be me" answers Soifon.

"There was a major war in the area one hundred years ago, things were so bad, that we had no choice but to go in and ferry all the souls to the afterlife; however, we found that many of the hollows and pluses we were sent to save, were mysteriously being killed."

"What do you mean being killed?"

"The humans were killing them, most likely. I have even heard eye witness reports from the members of the Stealth Force of humans being able to see them, with little spirit energy."

Byakuya looked aghast, while Mayuri looked disbelieving, but curious.

"Impossible, humans don't have that kind of power, not without possessing significant amounts of spirit energy."

"I'm curious, just what kind of humans are these? Are they like the bounts?"

Yamamoto's voice booms again, interrupting everyone. All eyes are focused on him as he speaks, "The area consists of a cluster of ninja villages, at least five large ones, and hundreds of smaller ones. These humans posses massive amounts of energy; even enough to negate the powers of soul reapers and hollows."

Several of the captains look shocked; it was extremely rare for humans to have the power to negate the powers of soul reapers, the bounts were a onetime exception, and they were immortal. These ninja couldn't possibly be as powerful as the bounts.

"If these ninja are so powerful, then why do have almost no information on them? Surely they weren't another product of Soul Society experimentation?" acquires Toshiro.

"The war with Aizen has blinded most of us to the situations on Earth, members of the Stealth Force have been monitoring the area for the last ten years; from what I understand, there's been another outbreak of war."

Soifon pulls out a stack of papers, and drops them on the table. She passes out several diagrams and charts to the other captains.

"These are from the Department of Research; the numbers indicate exactly how many hollows and plusses are being created per year, and there's enough information to cover the last decade. Note how, in the last five years, the number of hollows in the area has increased indefinitely, and dramatically."

"Incredible, the numbers have increased over 100 percent" states Retsu, her mouth agape.

In one year, the stealth force had recorded less than 50 hollows; exactly three years later, the number of hollows had surged to over 5500, with almost all of them disappearing. The next three years all had similar numbers; and each time the Stealth Force had reported many of the hollows vanishing immediately.

Conspiracy theories began to surface; the most prominent one was that Aizen was somehow involved; but this theory barely held water. What would Aizen have to possibly gain by meddling with the affairs of a war between ninja? Even the disappearance of all of those hollows could hardly be considered concrete evidence.

Shunsui spoke up, "Soifon, did the Stealth Force find out a motive behind this ninja war? Are they fighting over land? Is it political? Maybe even religious?"

Soifon shakes her head, and lowers it, solemnly sitting back down. "I sent two dozen of my best officers into that place, after ten years only three of them made it back to the Soul Society alive."

The other captains were awestruck; silence reigned over the hall for almost a full minute, until Soifon spoke again.

"I remember one of them telling me something about demon tailed beasts; but I have no idea what that means."

Tailed beasts? That struck a nerve with Yamamoto; in fact, it took him back to his days when he was still a young captain. The Ten Tailed Beast, a demon monstrosity so powerful, that it transcended both the world of the living, and the spirit realm. It was said that even the king of Hueco Mundo feared the demon. The Sage of the Six Paths; he was the strongest human he'd ever encountered, his power even surpassing his own. He sealed away the demon, and split its power into nine weaker demons. To his knowledge, they to, were also sealed away.

If the tailed beasts had fallen under human control, this war could prove too dangerous for them to get involved. He had good reason to believe that the tailed demons were even stronger than Aizen's Espada had been; though he'd never tell his fellow captains this, at least not until he could confirm their existence.

"We will pursue this endeavor for now, even if Aizen may or may not be involved; however, it is not our job to interfere with the lives of humans, so if the trail runs cold, we will not pursue any farther."

The other captains nod, except for Shunsui; he had known Yamamoto long enough to know when the old man was leaving out details.

"We need someone on the inside, someone that can gather information for us" said Kensei.

"I'll go" said Soifon, without hesitating. "A lieutenant or a captain would have to go; the area's too dangerous to send anyone weaker."

Her proposal only manages to spark another set of arguments, though she did have a point. If the finest ninja from the Stealth Force couldn't survive a simple recon mission, it meant that the captains weren't about to potentially risk life and limb for a stealth mission.

Yachiru, on the other hand, had been lost in thought. All this talk about ninjas, and ninja villages had got her thinking. About twenty years prior, she and Kenpachi had encountered an orphan in the poor districts of the West Rukon. Unlike them, the girl already had a name, Hiyori. Kenpachi had initially been drawn to her spirit energy; which was high for an infant. They took the girl with them, and brought her back to the Soul Society.

"I know someone you can take with you, Soifon."

Yachiru quickly fills the rest of the captains in on the story, and her mystery person, and why she'd be such a great choice for the mission. Soifon was skeptical; what Yachiru was suggesting was downright improbable.

The girl in question was the newly promoted lieutenant of the 5th division, whom had taken Momo Hinamori's place, Hiyori Hyuuga. If this Hyuuga girl really did have a sort of tie to this area; some family from her past life, maybe that could give them some leverage in finding some answers.

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Across the alleys and corridors of the Soul Society, the sound of clashing swords could be heard. 11th division lieutenant Ikkaku Madarame was enjoying one of his favorite pastimes, fighting; while sparring with the 5th division lieutenant, Hiyori Hyuuga.

"Heh, what's wrong Hyuuga? You've been slacking off since you made lieutenant!"

"Is that a fact? Consider yourself lucky that I was transferred to the 5th division, otherwise I'd have your job!"

Ikkaku cracks a maniacal grin, "You seem to be so sure of yourself don't you? Fine, lets up the ante."

Ikkaku's body begins to glow, releasing a massive amount of spirit energy.

"Extend, Hozukimaru!"

Ikkaku's katana transforms itself into a long staff with a blade at the tip. Hiyori smiles, and cocks her head to the side. She begins to laugh; it was if he was asking to have his ass kicked.

"You want me to release my shikai, huh? I didn't realize you were in such a hurry to lose, chrome dome."

Hiyori's body also begins to glow, as she releases an equal amount of spirit energy as her opponent.

"Reveal the all seeing eye, Senkennomei!"

Her katana transforms into a thin broadsword; the silver blade illuminates in the sunlight, appearing to produce its own light. The hilt was black, and lacked a cross guard; a yin yang symbol was imprinted near the bottom of the blade.

Watching the two is the 3rd seat of the 11th division, Yumichika Ayasegawa. Despite her tomboyish and rowdy personality, Hiyori was one of the few people that the narcissist had actually complemented their physical appearance. Hiyori was something else; she could fight all out with Ikkaku, she enjoyed writing poetry with him, and she could chat all day with Captain Yachiru. Despite being the 5th division lieutenant, Yumichika still views her as the little sister of the 11th division.

The battle between the two has picked up speed, and Ikkaku was quickly wishing he hadn't provoked the girl. Her shikai release was ridiculous; and her speed only made things worse. Her shikai's special ability created a field of perfect vision that extended a hundred feet in front and behind her, in every direction within a 360 degree sphere. And as he was experiencing this the hard way; the woman could see every attack he made within the sphere, well before they actually hit.

Flash step was useless, and his movements appeared sluggish; it was as if time itself slowed inside that sphere. She blocked every attack, and countered. She even countered his counters. Hozukimaru has the element of surprise, and was unpredictable to most opponents; however, Senkennomei has the perfect defense, and her melee style offense was quickly overpowering him.

Hiyori also uses a pair of hidden blades worn on her ankles as her trump card; her speed, combined with her prowess at hand to hand combat made reading her moves difficult. Her opponents normally never saw those coming, even if they prepared for them. And then, the fight was over; Hozukimaru suddenly shatters as Ikkaku falls to the ground.

Sure, he could have used his bankai if he had wanted to, but that would have given him an unfair advantage… especially when she wasn't willing to release hers.

Senkennomei returns to normal, as Hiyori descends to the ground. The rest of the 11th division has gathered to watch the fight, as well as several from the 5th division.

"Heh, not bad Hiyori. Ikkaku, what the hell was that? I think you're the one that's been slacking off since being promoted."

Yachiru appears behind the group, having returned from the captains meeting. The years have taken their toll; no longer was she the obnoxious little girl she had once been, she has transformed into a beautiful, and mature woman. Kenpachi had been killed by Aizen during the war, and it had been that grief that helped her grow up. As a tribute, Yachiru even sports the same custom made eye patch, and has bells braided into her long pink hair.

"Good afternoon, Lady Yachiru!"

The rest of the 11th division kneels before her, the same way they had always done with Zaraki. Ikkaku grumbles as he approaches her. At first he wasn't willing to accept her as captain, until it was revealed that her power had become every bit as monstrous as Kenpachi's had been; and he had firsthand knowledge, after she demonstrated that the eye patch she wore wasn't just for show.

"Captain, what about the meeting? About Aizen?"

She sighs, "There haven't been any new solid leads on his whereabouts; however, we may have found a possible lead."

"Where?"

"In the world of the living, inside an area of ninja nations; it sounds too farfetched, and honestly I think this is a wild goose chase, but who knows; maybe this path will lead us to Aizen."

Ikkaku scoffs, 'ninjas… great, just fucking fantastic.'

"Lieutenant Hyuuga", Yachiru turns to address the girl before she leaves. Hiyori immediately snaps to attention; Yachiru considers her to be a little sister, only using formalities when she was deadly serious.

"You have been summoned by the Captain Commander for an urgent assignment."

"Yes, Lady Yachiru. Do you have any details?"

"Let's just say it concerns your former life, the name Hyuuga may prove to be useful in finding information."

"So this is a recon mission?"

"Sort of, you'll be working with Soifon?"

"Really? The commander of the Special Forces Unit herself, huh? This place must be pretty hardcore, if Yamamoto's sending her."

--------------

An hour later, Hiyori was standing in front of Captain Yamamoto, with Soifon at her side. Apparently it would only be the two of them on this mission; they were to gather information on the war between the ninja nations. While it was impossible to tell if Aizen had dirtied his hands with this war as well, Yamamoto was more eager to find out the conditions of the tailed beasts. If those demons were involved in the war, then Aizen could very well be involved; their power would act like a beacon for him.

"Because the region you'll be entering has been deemed dangerous to soul reapers, I am restricting the use of Gentei Reiin on your spirit energy; I am also granting authorized usage of your zanpakutos. However, under no circumstances are either of you allowed to attack humans; unless the dire situation arises, and you must defend yourselves.

Hiyori reveals that the Hyuuga's, as she knows them, are a clan that live in a village called Konohagakure. A dimensional portal was being created, that would drop the two soul reapers in front of the village. From there, they were track down these other Hyuuga, and subtract the necessary information from them.

"The portal will be ready tomorrow morning; go home, and get some sleep. I am expecting good results from the two of you. The two of you are dismissed."

Hiyori was the first to arrive at the gate the following morning; she didn't have to wait long, as Soifon suddenly appears before her in a whirl of smoke. She had been up since before dawn; making the final preparations for the mission.

"There have been a few changes" said Soifon, tossing Hiyori a glove with a skull on it.

"We'll be using gigai for this mission. I don't really like Kisuke Urahara; in fact, I despise the man. However, I must say his genius is rather impressive."

"Gigai? Won't that overcomplicate the mission?"

Hiyori shot the captain a questioning look. She had thought it easiest to use their spiritual bodies, to gather information. What she had heard about these ninja was that they could supposedly see them anyway, without using spirit energy.

"Our mission is to gather information; the gigai will help us blend in. These artificial bodies generate their own life energy; to the ninja we'll appear as nothing more than ordinary humans."

"But won't that put us in danger if we can't use our powers, Captain?"

"That's the genius behind these particular gigai; even though we won't be able to use our zapakuto's, we won't need them. The gigai will allow us to channel as much spirit energy as we need to defend ourselves, without causing permanent damage to the body. I believe Rukia Kuchiki experimented with an early prototype of this gigai years ago, after she lost her powers."

Hiyori's face sank as she frowns, 'kido is my worst area of combat; hell, I'm even worse than Renji.'

"That glove I gave you; press the skull to your forehead, to separate yourself from the gigai. We won't have any soul candy with us; so only use the glove in an emergency situation."

"Yes, Captain."

The mission was secret, only the other captains were aware of it, and Soifon had absolute control over the mission. The portal opens up in front of them, as they stare into the swirling mass of spiritual energy. This was Hiyori's first trip to the living world, since dying nearly twenty years prior.

Soifon runs head first in the portal, with Hiyori close behind. The two soul reapers use flash step to close the gap between the two dimensions.

"Are you nervous?" asks Soifon.

"Why would I be nervous?"

"You're going to be reunited with your original family, from back when you were still alive. Something like this rarely ever happens; it's more common to find relatives after death, living in the Soul Society."

Hiyori had been doing allot of thinking on the subject; her family, the one she left behind when she died. Her real mother? Her real father? Did she have any siblings? She couldn't remember anything from her life at all. The only thing she remembered was her name, Hiyori; and she took the name Hyuuga, because that was name of the family whose crest had been on her clothes when Kenpachi had found her.

"I've always wondered what they were like, my real family; I wasn't born in the Soul Society, so I figured I must have died as an infant. Yachiru, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and the rest of the 11th division will always be my family; but I've always wondered what it would be like… to have a real mother and father, to have a brother or sister."

Soifon was silent; she had been born in the Soul Society; she had a mother and father to care for her, she had siblings (though all of them have since died) while growing up. It was something that she realized she'd taken for granted; especially when compared to someone who had no other family, than the soul reapers in their division.

She wasn't nervous; in fact, she was ecstatic. She had been looking forward to this mission all month; ever since she had first received the report from the Stealth Force. Her subordinates were no amateurs; they were the best of the best. Many of them she had trained personally; yet nearly all of them had been killed by humans that shouldn't have been able to even sense them.

'This mission intrigues me to no end; I have to find out for myself, just how formidable these ninja really are.'

"Lieutenant, we are coming to the edge of the barrier of the portal; once we cross through we'll be transferred into our gigai. We have to lay low, and then we'll proceed with the next phase of the mission; the infiltration."

Hiyori nods, as she follows her to the edge of the barrier. Soifon passes through to the other side; and without hesitation, she follows.