Gotei 13..
20 minutes ago...
Seireitei – Squad 10 Barracks
The sharp clang of the emergency bell split the silence of the morning.
Inside the 10th Division barracks, a hell butterfly fluttered through the open window and landed on the outstretched hand of Captain Isshin Shiba.
His cheerful expression vanished the moment he received the transmission.
"...What the hell is this?" he muttered, straightening from his usual lazy slump against the office wall. "A Hollow incursion this deep into the Rukongai… in the 50th District?"
He tightened the band on his haori, his grin replaced with grim focus. A knock came at the door.
"Enter," he said.
Rangiku stepped in briskly, sake bottle still tucked under her arm. "You felt it too, huh? That Reiatsu spike—it was unnatural. Almost like…"
"I know," Isshin cut in, walking past her, eyes narrowed. "But this one's straight from the Head Captain. Priority Alert. We're to mobilize immediately."
Rangiku's usual playfulness dropped in an instant. "Orders?" Isshin stopped, his tone now serious and commanding.
"Gather all patrol squads. I want boots in every corner of the 50th through 60th districts. Anything that moves and isn't registered gets pinned or purged. This reeks of something foul, and we're not gonna wait for it to crawl to our doorstep."
He looked over his shoulder, a fire in his eyes.
"Let's go clean house."
---
Squad 12 Barracks – Underground Laboratory
The dim glow of monitors flickered across the faces of the 12th Division.
Inside the control room, Captain Kisuke Urahara stood in front of a projection of the Rukongai map. Red beacons blinked in rapid succession across the 50th District, forming a growing cluster.
"...Fascinating," he murmured, running a hand through his hair and lowering his head to hide the gleam in his eyes. "Spiritual instability, Hollow fusion, and residual traces of Reiatsu from both Shinigami and Hollow signatures at the same time."
Behind him, the door banged open.
Hiyori Sarugaki, his fiery lieutenant, stomped in, sandals slapping against the floor.
"I felt that damn surge all the way from our damn garden, Kisuke! What the hell are you doing just standing around?! This isnt a regular Hollow attack..!"
"Hiyori," Kisuke said, calm as ever, "we're already preparing. I've assigned Mayuri to track the lingering signatures."
On cue, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the division's eccentric third seat at the time, stepped forward with an irritated sneer.
"This level of reiryoku displacement… is repulsive," he said with barely contained fascination. "It's almost as if something merged with a Shinigami's essence. A failed symbiosis, or… a successful test with more than one Greater Hollow.."
Kisuke clapped his hands lightly. "Exactly. Which is why I want both of you on-site. I've requested clearance from the Central 46. Take Squad 12's field researchers and subdue anything unusual, but do not kill any humanoid Hollow if found. I want it alive."
Hiyori's eyes widened. "Alive?! Kisuke, did you inhale some of your own damn gas again?!"
"I'm not saying cuddle it," he replied. "Just… don't destroy the specimen until I get a look at it."
"Tch. Fine," Hiyori grunted, turning to leave. "But if it tries to bite me, I'm putting a sandal through its skull."
Mayuri followed with a hissed giggle. "How delightfully predictable." As they traveled out, Kisuke stood quietly, hands on his chin. "If have that thing safe with me.. Who else is responsible for this?.."
---
Squad 9 Barracks – Disciplinary Command
The heavy clink of weights echoed through the 9th Division training grounds.
Captain Kensei Muguruma stood shirtless, fists taped, as sweat dripped from his brow. He had been working the punching post all morning—until the sky above pulsed.
He stopped mid-punch.
"What the hell…?"
A hell butterfly landed on his shoulder, whispering its urgent contents. Kensei clenched his jaw. His Reiatsu spiked just slightly.
"The 50th District again? Dammit." He pulled on his sleeveless haori and turned.
"Oi! Mashiro he barked.
"Oh Kensei!!" A green haired young woman ran into view. "Captain? Her eyes gleamed with obsession..
"Gear up. We're deploying with full suppression squads. Hollow assault on the outer Rukongai. High alert."
Her expression turned grim and then exhausted "Another one? It's not even been two days since the last sighting in the South District"
"This isn't just another one," Kensei said, grabbing his Zanpakutō and tightening the strap. "I felt that surge. Whatever these things is… it's It's something else. And if they took out that many souls that fast, they're not ordinary Hollows.."
Kensei's brow furrowed. "...It's coordinated. Hueco Mundo. Could it be that those Hollows in that world are joining forces to attack the Soul Society?"
He sheathed his Zanpakutō and headed for the exit. "If Squad 12's involved, this might be worse than we think."
---
Squad 1 – First Division Headquarters
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Seireitei, the storm was already brewing. Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto stood silent in the command hall, his eyes shut, his gnarled hands resting on his staff.
One by one, hell butterflies arrived.
As each delivered its report, the room filled with tension.
He finally opened his eyes—piercing and ancient.
"Deploy Divisions 2, 6, 9, 10, and 12 to the Rukongai outer sectors. Full combat readiness. Do not underestimate the enemy. If this... If the reports are true, coordinated Hollow attacks in the Rukongai, it could be that they're finally attacking. Hueco Mundo. They're finally ready to swallow the Soul Society.. But we will stop them before they can tear down the Soul Society.."
---
Present Time....
The man crouched low, patting Minato's head with an almost condescending fondness before he straightened with a shrug.
"I'd advise you stop playing with your food, Metastacia," he said casually, turning his back to Minato. "The Shinigami are on their way. I can feel it… their Reiatsu is fierce. There's quite the lineup headed this way. Let's go."
With a flick of his fingers, he gestured off to the side.
Minato's breath hitched the moment someone emerged from the shadows. It wasn't the Hollow he had expected, far from it. It was the old man.
"Fujitaro…?" Minato's voice cracked, barely more than a whisper. But no… this wasn't him. Couldn't be. The air around the figure pulsed with the unmistakable imprint of Fujitaro's Reiatsu. His spiritual signature was still the same. But everything else… everything else had changed.
His skin was a sickly, mottled green, wrinkled and patchy like rotting bark. His once wise eyes now glowed with an eerie madness, the whites consumed by darkness, leaving only pinpoint dots of gleaming white in a sea of pitch black. Crimson tattoo-like rings flared around his hollowed eyes like twisted war paint. His tongue lolled out of his mouth like a panting beast, and a manic grin stretched across his face, inhuman and cracked.
Minato's heart plummeted.
"No... no, old man…!" he choked out. "Snap out of it!! Fujitaro!! It's me! You have a family to find, remember?! Your daughter! Your wife! You told me that!"
His voice rose, desperate, cracking under the weight of his emotions. And then, against the odds, something stirred.
The deranged creature halted mid-step. A slow, groaning sound rasped from its throat as it twitched.
"M-M-Minato…"
That voice, it was warped, hoarse, but unmistakably human. The old man's lips moved, forcing the name out like it hurt him to say it.
Minato's breath caught in his chest.
"Yes! Yes, it's me!" he called out, eyes wide with hope. Bloodied and battered, he forced his legs to move. One trembling step. Then another. "Come on, old man, fight it! I know you're still in there!"
The creature clutched its head, swaying on its feet as though torn between two realities. Its voice cracked again.
"M-my… f-family…" In that brief moment, their eyes met, and Minato saw it.
Behind the madness, behind the grotesque transformation… there was still a flicker of the man he'd once known. The fear, the confusion, the helplessness. It was all still there.
And then....silence..
"No! Don't you dare!!" Minato screamed.
A sigh escaped from the mysterious Shinigami, who had watched the exchange with mild annoyance.
"Tch… You seemed more like the quiet type, Minato. Shame." He stepped forward, raising his blade with a tired expression.
"I'll probably get chewed out for this later, but…
Shoot to kill.....
Shinso."
RIPPP!!!
Time froze. Minato stood there, stunned. Then slowly, his eyes drifted downward. A blade. Long. Silver. Piercing through his chest. It had extended so quickly, from nearly where the Shinigami stood all the way through his body. Blood bubbled from his lips as he gasped.
The blade retracted with a metallic shhhk! and he collapsed backwards, hitting the dirt with a dull thud, limbs splayed out, eyes wide.
---
Dreamscape...
There was no pain. No sound. Just… falling. Minato couldn't tell how long he had been drifting, minutes, hours, years. All around him was black. A formless void.
Then..
He saw her. Her silhouette. Her hand reaching out to him.
His heart surged. "K-Kushina…?" But it wasn't her.
It looked like her, at least, the shape, the warmth in the eyes. But her hair… it was silver, not crimson. And her presence felt... foreign. Still, something deep inside him recognized her. His body relaxed, and he began to fall faster, collapsing into the abyss..
Back in the real world, the Shinigami exhaled a long, dramatic breath.
"Whew. What a troublesome fellow…"
He turned, wrapping an arm around the broken form of Fujitaro.
And with a ripple of movement, they vanished into the shadows.
Minato lay there. Bleeding. Alone. Dying…Or perhaps, already dead.