"Don't make the same mistake again?"
In a spacious, hidden chamber, Aizen sat leisurely in a reclining chair, one hand resting on his cheek. His gaze was fixed on the screen in front of him, his expression playful.
The screen currently displayed the Hokage's office. The image was so sharp that one could see the fine creases in Sarutobi Hiruzen's robes and even the stray specks of dust on his collar. However, the Third Hokage and the advisors being watched were completely oblivious, continuing their conversation in what they believed was total privacy.
"This truly is an amazing wish," Aizen muttered softly. He turned his gaze to a second screen.
This display showed the Root base. Shimura Danzo, his bandages already removed, was injecting his right arm with a syringe. As the plunger moved, a pained, twisted grimace contorted his face. The moment the injection was finished, a white bone mask suddenly manifested over his features, and he let out an involuntary, beast-like howl.
Click.
After several seconds, the mask shattered, and Danzo's appearance returned to normal.
"Five seconds longer than last time," Danzo wheezed, muttering to himself. "I can feel it... I am getting closer and closer to becoming a complete Hollow. Just wait, Hiruzen... and that bastard Aizen! I will make you pay. No one leaves Root without permission. No one!"
Has he become so extreme because of the negative emotions inherent to the Void? Truly, a failed specimen.
Unfazed by the threats appearing on the screen, Aizen continued to analyze his research data, occasionally taking a sip of black tea.
Beside him, Konan remained in a state of profound shock. It was no wonder; the environment they were in was enough to break anyone's composure. This was a high-tech laboratory filled with unfamiliar instruments, props, and exotic materials. At the front of the room stood rows of sophisticated monitoring equipment.
The surveillance feeds covered the offices of the Kages from every major village. Beyond the seats of power, Konan spotted locations she knew all too well: the Akatsuki base, Nagato's private residence, and even the secret burial site of Uchiha Madara.
Even with her knowledge of the original story, Konan hadn't known Madara was buried in a valley on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, yet a helpful note was marked clearly above that specific screen.
It's terrifying...
Without entering this laboratory, no one would have suspected that Aizen was quietly monitoring the entire Shinobi World.
But what disturbed Konan even more than the surveillance were the rows of glass culture vessels lined up along the wall. The bodies suspended within them looked lifelike, and many were faces Konan recognized. There was Pakura of the Scorch Style, Hozuki Mangetsu, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and Ringo Ameyuri.
They should have been dead—some of them nothing more than skeletal remains by now. Yet within these incubators, they appeared as if they were merely sleeping. Their faces were partially covered by white bone masks, giving them a sinister, ethereal quality.
Konan's eyes widened as a chilling possibility dawned on her.
"They are Arrancar," a soft voice spoke beside her.
Creak.
Konan turned her head mechanically to meet Aizen's brown eyes—eyes that seemed to peer directly into her soul. Panic surged through her; she knew her lack of composure had undoubtedly drawn his suspicion.
"By injecting Reishi into the soul and fusing it with spiritual matter, these deceased individuals become more adaptable to the power of the Void than the living," Aizen explained, seemingly unbothered by her distress. He smiled faintly. "Compared to the living, they can more easily undergo a complete Hollowification. That is why I have given them the name 'Arrancar.'"
Konan's heart pounded against her ribs, but she forced a veneer of calm. "According to what you said before, Reishi shouldn't exist in the Shinobi World. If that is the case, how can it be injected into a soul?"
"It is not that Reishi does not exist in this world; rather, it is rejected by the natural laws here, making it difficult to coalesce." Aizen tilted his head, the dim laboratory lighting casting a heavy shadow over half his face. "If a powerful individual uses Reiatsu to forcibly gather Reishi, they can still capture it. However, in this specific place, such effort is unnecessary."
"In this place?" Konan caught the significance of his words.
"Yes, because this is not the Ninja Realm," Aizen said, his lips curling into a slight smirk as he looked out a nearby window. "This is the Pure Land. It is the very soil where souls reside. The concentration of Reishi here is no less than that of the Soul Society."
The... the Pure Land?!
Konan's face went pale with disbelief. In her shock, she even forgot to feign ignorance about the "Soul Society." Her mind buzzed, her thoughts racing in circles.
I am currently in the realm of the dead? How could Aizen establish a base in the Pure Land? How is that even possible?!
Then, it clicked. When she had followed Aizen earlier, they had passed through a pitch-black tunnel. Was that a Garganta? Did he use a Garganta to link his home in Konoha directly to the Pure Land?
The sheer scale of his creativity was staggering. This villainous mastermind from the world of Bleach truly lived up to his reputation. Even in a foreign universe, he was performing maneuvers that defied imagination.
He had built a fortress in the afterlife, monitored every major power in the world, and begun cultivating a specialized army of Arrancar that defied all standard logic. Combined with Aizen's own power—a bottomless abyss—Konan could no longer conceive of any force capable of stopping him.
If it were possible, she felt an urge to tell the entire Shinobi World to surrender immediately. From the very beginning, they never stood a chance of winning this war.