After dealing with one problem, Sora encountered another.
His use of Bankai in the noble district had unleashed a terrifying, captain-class spiritual pressure that had alarmed the local guards.
After releasing his Bankai, Sora saw the guards of the noble district surrounding him.
The corpses strewn across the Mizutani grounds forced the guards to investigate.
The guards, trying to remain calm, approached and questioned him, their voices unconsciously tinged with respect:
"Professor Katori, what are you doing!"
"There's no need for alarm. These are Reigai, not Shinigami," Sora said, sheathing his sword.
"Reigai? You mean those bodies made with spiritual body technology..."
"I heard that's a forbidden research area..."
"I think the search in the Rukongai by Squads 3, 8, and 13 is related to Reigai..."
"But we can't tell if that's true..."
"Professor Katori, please wait a moment. We have already notified Captain Kuchiki!"
The guards looked at each other. They had heard of Reigai, but they couldn't verify Sora's claim.
The guards in the noble district were all from the 6th Division. They wanted Sora to wait for Ginrei Kuchiki to arrive and make a judgment.
"You can notify the 12th Division and have them send someone to test these Reigai..." Sora said gently.
Not all the guards on the ground were necessarily Reigai, but the Mizutani family had colluded with Tetsuya Miyamoto, secretly creating Reigai and murdering Shinigami and Academy students. Those who aided such evil deserved to be killed.
Just then, Sora's Denreishinki buzzed.
He opened it, and Yoruichi Shihōin's voice came through: "Professor, are you still at the Academy? I have an important discovery!"
"An important discovery?" Sora was puzzled. He remembered Yoruichi was supposed to be staking out the Academy entrance for the new Reigai students. "I've also run into some issues here. I'm in a bit of trouble."
Yoruichi quickly asked, "What kind of trouble are you in, Professor?"
"I cut someone down at the Mizutani residence," Sora said. "I found a lot of Reigai here, but the guards in the noble district don't know much about them, which has led to a misunderstanding."
Yoruichi quickly replied, "I'm on my way now!"
Sora closed the Denreishinki and waited for Yoruichi and Ginrei Kuchiki to arrive.
Yoruichi rushed over, but she was quite far from the noble district. Before she arrived, Ginrei Kuchiki and members of the 12th Division were already there.
...
Ginrei Kuchiki couldn't identify the Reigai either. Upon arrival, he immediately sent for Kirio Hikifune to come and examine the bodies.
"They are indeed Reigai. The development of the spiritual core, saketsu, and hakusui doesn't match the strength of the spiritual body. The body's strength has clearly been artificially accelerated, which is consistent with the Reigai we've captured before," Hikifune concluded after dissecting several of the corpses on-site.
"However, the decomposition rate of these Reigai is much slower. Tetsuya Miyamoto's Reigai technology has certainly been upgraded," Hikifune said after completing her examination, gesturing for her subordinates to transport the bodies back.
Reigai made with the original technology had less stable spiritual bodies and would quickly dissolve into reishi after death.
But the spiritual bodies of the Reigai Sora had dispatched were nearly as stable as ordinary souls and could remain intact for some time after death.
Hikifune's words brought a sense of relief to Ginrei Kuchiki and the 6th Division members.
Katori Sora was a guest instructor for the Kuchiki clan, and Ginrei intended to have Sora take Byakuya Kuchiki as a disciple when he was older. He really did not want to come into conflict with Sora.
"To think so many Reigai infiltrated the noble district. This is a failure of the 6th Division," Ginrei said gratefully. "Thanks to Katori-kun's timely discovery, otherwise these Reigai hidden in the Mizutani house could have caused great damage to the noble district, or even the entire Seireitei."
"Indeed. The Reigai that infiltrated my lab a few years ago was also discovered by Katori-kun. It's a good thing he was found early, or he might have obtained more of our data," Hikifune said with a smile.
"Shingo Mizutani and his Reigai granddaughter seem to have some information. They might know Tetsuya Miyamoto's whereabouts," Sora pointed out.
Sora had not killed Shingo Mizutani. After defeating him, he had used healing Kidō to save his life.
However, Shingo was severely injured after his Shikai was broken and had not yet regained consciousness.
"Then let's first remove the anti-leak spell from this Reigai's brain," Hikifune nodded. "I never thought the Mizutani family would be in league with Tetsuya Miyamoto... If not for Katori-kun's discovery, Shingo's secret might have remained hidden for much longer."
After an inside agent was discovered in the 12th Division years ago, the Seireitei had conducted a screening for Reigai, but that screening did not include the noble district.
Central 46 had not approved Hikifune's request to collect the reishi data of the nobles.
If they had, she wouldn't have needed to dissect the corpses just now to identify them as Reigai.
"Now that something like this has happened in the noble district, I wonder if Central 46 will finally accept the request to collect reishi data," Hikifune said, looking pointedly at Ginrei.
"For such a thing to happen here is indeed a failure on my part and that of the 6th Division," Ginrei frowned.
"You need not blame yourself, Captain Kuchiki. Reigai are difficult to detect. Without testing equipment, dissection is the only way to identify them," Hikifune said. "But to prevent this from happening again, I hope you will persuade Central 46 to provide the reishi data."
"I will persuade them to approve your request," Ginrei nodded lightly.
Just then, Yoruichi Shihōin also arrived at the Mizutani residence.
Seeing that the situation was not tense, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She had rushed over at top speed, and her stamina and spiritual pressure were considerably drained.
Yoruichi panted slightly. "Are you alright, Professor?"
She had hurried over, fearing her Professor might clash with the noble district guards, which would have complicated matters.
However, in her haste, she had overlooked the fact that with Sora's current connections, neither the guards nor Ginrei Kuchiki would conflict with him while the situation was still unclear.
"I'm fine. Miss Kirio and Captain Kuchiki are discerning and did not give me any trouble," Sora said, his heart warming as he saw the sweat on Yoruichi's forehead.
"Katori-kun, your disciple really cares about you," Hikifune teased.
"You're covered in sweat from rushing over..." He took a small towel from his reishi pocket and gently wiped the sweat from Yoruichi's forehead. "Dry yourself off. You said you had an important discovery?"
Yoruichi took the towel from Sora's hand. When she noticed Hikifune and Ginrei watching their interaction, her tanned cheeks flushed slightly.
Pretending not to notice their gazes, she replied, "We tracked the new Reigai student and found he went to the Suzuki Company. That should be the property of some noble, right? A noble must be colluding with the Reigai."
"The Suzuki Company?" Ginrei recalled. "That is actually a Mizutani family business. Shingo Mizutani's son-in-law is the president of the company."
The 6th Division was commanded by nobles, and Ginrei often dealt with the families of the noble district. He was quite familiar with their main businesses.
"Then I guess that information isn't very important... since you've already caught Shingo Mizutani." Yoruichi was taken aback. She thought she had caught a big fish, only to find that the mastermind behind the Suzuki Company was already here.
"The president of the company is Shingo's son-in-law. Since he was in contact with the Reigai, he should also know many secrets. We can use his testimony to cross-reference their stories," Sora said, patting Yoruichi's head to comfort her.
The Seireitei didn't have any magical truth serums. To get information from their minds, they had to rely on the interrogation methods of the prison squad.
But information obtained through torture was not always 100% accurate. Having multiple people who knew the secrets would allow for a higher degree of accuracy.
"As long as it's useful!" Yoruichi couldn't help but rub her head against her Professor's hand like a cat.
After mastering the secret art of transforming into a cat, she had inevitably picked up some feline habits, like the subconscious urge to nuzzle a hand that was petting her head.
"I'm heading back! I need to see if my subordinates brought back the people we captured!" Yoruichi noticed the meaningful looks from Hikifune and Ginrei again and felt too embarrassed to stay.
Although Yoruichi had a bold personality, she was still quite shy in front of her seniors.
Yoruichi sped away as fast as she had arrived.
Ginrei Kuchiki felt that the Shihōin princess's feelings for Katori Sora went beyond that of a student and Professor.
"I wonder if Katori Sora will become the Shihōin family's son-in-law..." Ginrei thought. If he did, the Shihōin family would have at least two powerful captain-class pillars in the future.
Afterward, Sora assisted with the craniotomy, and together with Hikifune, they removed the reishi spell from the Reigai's brain.
Then, they handed over both Shingo Mizutani and the neutralized Reigai to the prison squad for interrogation.
...
Two days later, Yoruichi came to the dojo and brought a copy of the interrogation report.
"Tetsuya Miyamoto has a laboratory in the World of the Living?" Sora stroked his chin.
The information was somewhat surprising, but it also made sense.
Based on the current intelligence, Sora speculated that Saitō Furōfushi's 'Voice of Hell' was almost certainly in Miyamoto's hands, and that Miyamoto was likely in contact with the Will of Hell.
When Sora was making the 'Voice of Hell', Saitō had warned him that frequent use of it to receive messages from Hell could lead to being influenced by the Will of Hell.
It was highly likely that Miyamoto was already under its control.
Using the 'Voice of Hell' consumed the Hell reishi stored in its spell, and the reishi spells in the Reigai's brains were also composed of Hell reishi.
The only way to obtain Hell reishi was to collect it when a 'Gate of Hell' opened.
Therefore, establishing a laboratory in the World of the Living was the most convenient option.
One could open a 'Gate of Hell' simply by using a deeply sinful person as a sacrifice.
This also reduced the risk of being discovered by Shinigami.
The Shinigami stationed in the World of the Living were much easier to deal with than those in the Soul Society.
"The task of investigating Miyamoto's lab has been assigned to the Onmitsukidō. Professor, do you want to come with me?" Yoruichi was a sharp person. She had long realized that her Professor was very concerned about the Reigai matter, so she came to find him as soon as she received the mission.
"Alright. Let me get a few things first," Sora nodded.
"Then I'll assemble the team and come back for you," Yoruichi said, leaving the dojo to gather the personnel for the mission.
Sora went to his laboratory.
He found a busy Aizen Sōsuke inside.
Aizen stopped his work of recording data and stood up. "Professor, you've come at a good time. The growth of Hollow Reigai experiment #2 is astonishing!"
Sora walked to a glass tank where a Hollow Reigai was floating in blue reishi nutrient fluid.
After his trip to Hueco Mundo with Sora to obtain the sand needed for the fungus Hollows to grow, Aizen had quickly cultivated a new batch.
Using these fungus Hollows as raw material, he had created a growth catalyst for Hollow Reigai, allowing them to grow rapidly.
"The growth is good. Its spiritual pressure is already close to that of a normal Hollow," Sora nodded. "I didn't expect the cultivation of Hollow Reigai to be so much smoother than that of Shinigami Reigai. At this rate, we'll soon be able to cultivate a Gillian-class individual."
"Yes. I estimate that within a year, we can create a batch of test subjects for the Shinigamification of Hollows experiment," Aizen said, his interest piqued when talking about spiritual body experiments. "The smooth cultivation is thanks to our previous accumulated work."
"There is another, more important reason," Sora said, his gaze deepening as he stared at the Hollow Reigai in the fluid. "Hollow Reigai have enough of their own kind to 'devour' for growth."
Aizen's use of the fungus Hollows to create the growth catalyst was based on the principle that Hollows can evolve by devouring other Hollows.
"That's right... Shinigami Reigai can't grow by devouring their own kind."
But another thought arose in Aizen's mind—was that really true?
Neither he nor his Professor had ever conducted such an experiment, to see if a Shinigami could grow by devouring the reishi of their own kind.
"Continue to observe and record the growth of this batch of test subjects. If they can grow to the Menos Grande level, it will be a major breakthrough," Sora said. "I came to get a batch of Reigai inhibitors."
According to the information obtained from the Mizutani family, Tetsuya Miyamoto's laboratory was likely guarded by many Reigai.
---
Special Announcement: Tomorrow, a free file with chapters 141 to 300 of Naruto: Saving the Uchiha will be uploaded, along with another file for I Have Caught a Pokémon from chapter 300 to 450!
-------------------------------------
Featured projects:
Bleach Getting Stronger, Starting from Teaching 300 chapters
Naruto: Saving the Uchiha 300 chapters
The Crime Value System 120 chapters
I Have Caught a Pokémon — 350 chapters
Goddess Training Manual — 800 chapters
Second Generation Villain (Revised Version) — 90 chapters
Detective Conan Fanfic — 380 chapters
The Heroine Wants to Join My Harem — 1050 chapters
I Am the Villain's Father — 400 chapters
----------------------------------------------------------------
👉 Join and support these projects at: patreon.com/LEYI396
— Don't miss a single chapter or any manga translation done on demand!