[Fourth Division, Head Captain Yamamoto's Private Ward]
"Captain!", Ise Nanao rushed in, breathing hard, her small face slightly flushed.
Ever since leaving the Tenth Division, she had hurried here at the fastest speed possible, not daring to delay for even a moment.
She was afraid that because of her delay, her own captain would miss the chance to stop Rosse.
"Yo, little Nanao, what's got you in such a hurry?"
Kyoraku Shunsui was holding a sake gourd, leisurely playing a game of shogi with Ukitake Jushiro.
To him, these days were nothing more than drinking in a different place. Nothing else had really changed.
"Captain, this is bad. Captain Rosse wants to destroy Soul Society!"
Ise Nanao said urgently. She was speaking so fast that her words were a little jumbled.
"Vice-Captain Ise, what exactly is going on? Some things aren't something you can just say casually," Ukitake Jushiro, who was sitting opposite Kyoraku Shunsui, put down his piece and frowned as he looked at Ise Nanao.
They had been staying in the Fourth Division the whole time, but that didn't mean they were deaf or mute.
Although they hadn't expected Rosse to stabilize the situation so quickly, the fact that Soul Society had completely recovered in just a few days under Rosse's leadership was undeniable.
With things looking so good, saying that Rosse was going to destroy Soul Society was really going too far.
"Little Nanao, explain exactly what happened," Kyoraku Shunsui let out a sigh, but still straightened his posture slightly.
He had watched Ise Nanao grow up and knew she wasn't someone who made accusations without basis.
Even though he was drinking buddies with Rosse, he trusted Ise Nanao more.
Since she was saying this much, there had to be something he didn't know.
"Captain...", Ise Nanao recounted everything that had happened today to Kyoraku Shunsui, step by step.
It included Rosse releasing his spiritual pressure on her, as well as Kuchiki Byakuya's and Matsumoto Rangiku's attitudes, and she even mentioned the opinions of the other divisions that supported him.
At the end, Ise Nanao said urgently, "Captain, if we don't stop Captain Rosse now, the existing order of Soul Society is going to collapse. When that happens, who knows how chaotic Soul Society will become."
After hearing Ise Nanao's account, Ukitake Jushiro frowned deeply. He couldn't help but look at Kyoraku Shunsui and ask bluntly, "Kyoraku, did you know about this?"
He could roughly understand the situation and knew that from Rosse's standpoint, there wasn't really anything abnormal about this.
As for whether the nobles were abolished or not, he didn't care at all.
As long as the Royal Palace was still in the sky, the order of Soul Society wouldn't fall into chaos.
With Head Captain Yamamoto out of commission, a new order was bound to be born anyway. It was only a matter of sooner or later.
But the one thing that didn't add up was that Kyoraku Shunsui himself was a member of a high-ranking noble family and also managed the Eighth Division, the intelligence division. There was no way he shouldn't know about this.
"Ah! I know about it."
Kyoraku Shunsui didn't avoid the topic at all. His answer directly left Ise Nanao a little dumbfounded.
"Captain, then why didn't you stop it?", She couldn't understand it.
Rosse was about to dismantle the entire system of Soul Society. How could Kyoraku Shunsui still act like nothing was happening?
"What exactly did Captain Rosse do?", Kyoraku Shunsui asked in return.
"He united the other captains and put pressure on the Central 46, trying to take back economic and subordinate authority from them," After all these years as a vice-captain, Ise Nanao could still clearly sort out what Rosse was doing.
All that talk about land planning was just an excuse. The essence was control and economic power.
"Then were those powers originally supposed to be held by the Central 46?", Kyoraku Shunsui asked again, unhurried.
No matter who was in Rosse's position, similar thoughts would arise.
It was just that Rosse acted faster and more decisively.
If it were him, he would probably choose to proceed slowly, using a blunt knife to gradually cut away at the Central 46.
If he had to be honest, compared to being the head of the Kyoraku family, he much preferred being the captain of the Eighth Division.
"Huh? Weren't they always managed by the Central 46 before?", Ise Nanao asked blankly.
"Because the economy was controlled by the nobles, since the founding of the Gotei 13 a thousand years ago, a total of sixteen captains have been involved in internal noble struggles and were eventually discovered and executed," Kyoraku Shunsui said calmly, "Just because the Central 46 managed it at the beginning doesn't mean it was the right thing to do."
He didn't deny Rosse's reasoning. At least on this matter, the two of them stood on the same side.
A thousand years of Gotei 13 history proved that when power was held in the hands of incompetent nobles, it only intensified internal strife and consumed the Gotei 13's talent from within.
He had seen countless extraordinarily talented captains gradually sink in those struggles, until death.
From the very beginning, the nobles and the Gotei 13 should have been separated, with neither interfering with the other.
"When Sensei first founded the Gotei 13, he didn't examine this issue in detail. He just wanted to reach a balance with the nobles as quickly as possible. And at that time, with Sensei around, the nobles didn't dare refuse," Ukitake Jushiro added softly from the side. He had lived through that era and knew the full picture behind it.
He didn't care whether the nobles held power. As long as the conflict between the two sides stayed small enough in scope, he could even choose to ignore it.
And he also knew very well why Rosse hadn't approached the two of them.
The two of them were both captains and nobles, and also Head Captain Yamamoto's students. It really wasn't appropriate for them to be involved.
No matter which side they chose, it would be a denial of their own identities.
That was why Kyoraku Shunsui chose to pretend he didn't know and let things unfold, helping neither side.
No matter how it ended, it would have nothing to do with them.
This already was their best possible choice.
"Then are we really going to do nothing?", Ise Nanao felt uneasy. She always felt that if things kept developing like this, Soul Society might fall into great chaos.
"Little Nanao, just let things play out. If people in the divisions want to get involved, don't stop them," Kyoraku Shunsui shook his head.
Right now, Rosse held both strength and momentum. It wasn't that they were doing nothing. It was that there was nothing they could do.
With their identities, it was impossible for them to openly take part in the direct struggle between the Gotei 13 and the nobles.
And as long as Rosse kept waving the banner of seeking benefits for the Gotei 13, his popularity and prestige would only keep rising.
In this situation, unless he personally stepped in and eliminated Rosse, there was nothing he could do.
But to be fair, Rosse was just doing what someone in that position should do. He really had no reason to do anything to Rosse.
In fact, if Rosse actually succeeded someday, he would even have to thank him on behalf of the Eighth Division.
'Sigh! What a pain.'
'Old man, hurry and wake up already!'
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