Journal 8 - Entry 40

I'm not sure how to feel about this, or even what to write at the moment. It's overwhelming. At least I can use this journal to get my thoughts in order because I can't show how overwhelmed I am to anyone else. It would be unbecoming of the new Head Captain. I understand why I was chosen, even though I can see that objectively I was the obvious choice, in my mind, I feel inadequate when I think of the shoes that I have to fill. The men who came before me were legends that had lived over a thousand years, when I am not even 300 yet.

I felt like I wasn't ready when Yoruichi left and I was promoted to Captain of the 2nd Division, and now here I am as Head Captain. I don't even have a Lieutenant to assist me yet, because Ise went down with her Captain, so finding one is the first thing that I need to do. I will start working on that tomorrow.

We lost the Head Captain at the Battle of Yōsai, and the retreat through the Menos Highlands left little time for reorganization. With reserves from Las Noches we were able to stall their assault on the Highlands and the lines stabilized.

The Battle of Yōsai had been costly and had ended in defeat, but unlike the Fall of the Seireitei, it had been more costly in terms of numbers for them, dealing significant damage to their current iteration of Sternritter, and a large amount of their army. We had a chance at victory, but were outmaneuvered in the end. Trying to beat an enemy that can see the future is starting to appear impossible, but we cannot afford to give up. We still don't understand how exactly his ability works, as the Quincy's aren't infallible, the war would already be over if they were, so there is some kind of limit to the ability. We have yet to discover what it is, so we can't exploit it yet.

With these losses on both sides, I expect a lull in the fighting as both of us will need time to recover our forces.

Captain Muguruma was also lost in the battle, just another blow that we seem to be constantly taking.

On the positive end, the rifles developed by R&D were a major difference maker, and were the thing that made sure that we weren't overwhelmed in days by their sheer numbers like what happened on the opening days of the war.

But of course this battle cannot be discussed without discussing the individuals that prevented this from being a massacre. The Wandenreich clearly saw this as an opportunity to end the war, and as such deployed their strongest troops against us. Much to my chagrin, we had to send out Kurosaki and Aizen to fight them off, as well as cover our escape.

I hate having to rely on them so much. To think our most powerful fighters are a traitor and a human. It is exceedingly frustrating.

Back to what I was talking about originally. My promotion to Head Captain. Unlike a normal promotion to a Captain position, which requires a majority vote, the Head Captain can only be chosen with a unanimous vote, and cannot nominate themselves. They must be nominated by another Captain. At this point there are only three Shinigami left that were Captains at the start of the war, Captain Kurotsuchi, Captain Hitsugaya, and myself. As such, the three of us were pretty much the only candidates that people considered.

Captain Kurotsuchi had no interest in the position, preferring to stay with R&D. Even if he did show interest, there is no way he would have been able to get the unanimous vote required for it. Kisuke Urahara was also considered, but he also refused to run for the position.

Captain Hitsugaya also refused, as he did not see himself as experienced enough for the role, and I have to agree with this sentiment. Despite his skill, he had been a Captain for just 25 years.

I also wanted to refuse though. I didn't feel ready, hell, I still don't feel ready. The only other person that had more experience and was a longer termed Captain than me is Aizen, and no one is going to let that happen.

It seemed like the discussion was going nowhere, with no one willing to officially make a nomination. But eventually, I was nominated, and the one who did so was fairly surprising. Rukia Kuchiki. I had not spoken with Kuchiki very much, and I had given my full support to her execution during the Ryoka incident. (That feels like an eternity ago now). I always assumed she had held a bit of hostility towards me for that, so her endorsement caught me off guard, especially with how she presented it. She said that I was the perfect candidate because I had adapted to the new ways of warfare, and the new ideas of the Gotei while also holding onto a connection to the traditional ideas. It feels vain writing it out myself.

The vote was cast and it was a unanimous yes. This was just a couple hours ago, my head is still spinning.

I need to get myself focused, though. Tomorrow I'm going to need to reorganize the Divisions again, and find myself a Lieutenant. I plan on folding the Stealth Force into the 1st Division, so I can maintain my position there, but that also means that I'll need to assign someone new to the 2nd to form it into a more traditional Division. Right now I am leaning towards assigning Shūhei Hisagi there as an Interim Captain while I look for a more permanent solution. He did well when he was Interim Captain of the 8th before Captain Yadōmaru was officially assigned the position, so I feel confident in his ability. With Hisagi in the 2nd, I'll need to do something with the 9th, and the best option available right now would be Mashiro Kuna as Interim Captain. Despite how childish and immature she normally acts, she understands the weight the rank of Captain holds, even if it is temporary.

Matsumoto wants to be returned to her position as Lieutenant of the 10th, but right now there is no one else qualified for a Captain role. But I told her that as soon as we found someone who could, I would allow it.

As for who I am considering for the role as my Lieutenant, the current frontrunner is a woman who was the 4th seat of the 1st Division named Akiha Souji. She is one of the best swordsmen I have ever seen, extraordinarily deadly in a duel. Her main shortcoming is that she is not very effective at range or when outnumbered, so those will be the key areas we will need to focus on improving. I plan on testing her over the next couple of days to see how capable she truly is. I will need to find many Shinigami like her in order to fill our ranks, as the Wandenreich are able to rebuild their Sternritters at a remarkable rate.

I have a plan in mind for this, and it is to find Shinigami I deem capable, and place them as my Lieutenant. From there I will train them directly and have them take missions and assignments that I directly oversee, and once I deem them capable they will be assigned as Lieutenant or Captain of a Division that needs it. Essentially I will turn the seat of my Lieutenant into an officer training ground. That is the best idea I have at the moment for replenishing the top end of our ranks.

Personally, the progress on making my Shikai more powerful is going at an acceptable rate. Suzumebachi is clear that it is possible to achieve Ichigeki Kessatsu for my Shikai. That's my goal, I personally, will not feel like I truly deserve the role of Head Captain until I've upgraded my Shikai to that level.

I need to sleep, I can already feel the weight on my shoulders, the nonstop scenarios running through my mind. It will take time to get used to this. There's one thing that I won't compromise on however. Despite being Head Captain, I will not shy away from going to the battlefield. I will fight to make my predecessors proud, as the Third Head Captain of the Gotei 13.

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Head Captain Soifon

1st Division & Stealth Force

November 1, 2005

Author's Notes:

I am back again! No point in going into specific reasons, but updates will likely be less frequent going forward. But enough about that! The Soifon Head Captain chapter! I've been putting this one off for a while, trying to figure out when I wanted to put it out, and I finally just said I'll do it.

This is the lowest point for the Shinigami in the story. Up to here they've basically lost every battle and have been bleeding casualties non-stop, so Soifon is put in the position of taking over at the worst time.

She is further developing her abilities; Ichigeki Kessatsu means "Death in One Step", the upgraded version of her canon Shikai. Last thing, this chapter has introduced the new character of Akiha Souji that will be a bit of a recurring name , so best to file it away. Her appearance and abilities are loosely based on a character in another property, but that will come later when she gets a bit more focus.

Hope you guys enjoyed!