Bleach: The Strongest Shinigami, Hitsugaya Toshiro

Hearing the newcomers say they were conveying the Central 46's command, Toshiro immediately understood that Aizen was up to some new trick.

The Central 46 had been completely annihilated by Aizen, so they naturally couldn't issue any commands. Therefore, calling it a command from the Central 46 was more accurately described as Aizen's command.

"The Central 46? What exactly is this command?" Yamamoto frowned.

The sudden appearance of the Central 46's messengers instantly gave Yamamoto an ominous premonition.

The two messengers tasked with delivering the command exchanged a glance. One stepped forward and said, "The Central 46 has received a report from the 3rd Division's Captain, Ichimaru Gin, stating that the Vice-Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 and 10th Division's Captain, Hitsugaya Toshiro, murdered the 5th Division's Captain, Aizen Sosuke, and intends to destroy the Seireitei and betray the Soul Society. Therefore, the Central 46 orders the immediate confinement of Hitsugaya Toshiro to the Fourth Underground Prison of the Senzaikyu to await sentencing."

"What?!"

"Confine Captain Hitsugaya to Senzaikyu?!"

Everyone was incredulous.

Yamamoto shot a highly displeased look at Gin.

In Yamamoto's view, Gin not reporting to him first but instead taking the matter to the Central 46 was undoubtedly highly inappropriate and made Yamamoto even more dissatisfied with Gin.

Moreover, if Gin's claims were false, then his reporting Toshiro to the Central 46 undoubtedly indicated some even more significant conspiracy.

Even if Gin's story was true and Toshiro really intended to betray the Soul Society, he should have reported it to Yamamoto first.

While the Gotei 13 was required to obey the Central 46's commands and held a lower status, the Gotei 13 still maintained considerable independence.

The Central 46 could assign tasks to the Gotei 13, but they could not directly interfere in the Gotei 13's internal affairs.

Now, Gin bringing this to the Central 46 undoubtedly gave them a legitimate excuse to meddle in the Gotei 13's internal matters.

Therefore, Yamamoto was undoubtedly very unhappy with Gin's actions.

"Ara ara, Captain-Commander, don't look at me like that. I had no choice but to report directly to the Central 46 instead of reporting to you first," Gin said, putting on a pitiful expression seeing Yamamoto's extreme displeasure.

"Keep in mind, the 10th Division's Captain also holds the position of Vice-Captain-Commander, making him extremely powerful and influential within the entire Gotei 13, second only to you in status. If I had reported to you first, I was afraid the 10th Division's Captain might detect something and destroy the evidence. So, I had no choice but to bypass you and report directly to the Central 46."

"Hmph!"

Yamamoto snorted coldly and didn't say more to Gin. Instead, he addressed the two messengers, "Based solely on Gin's report, we cannot directly prove Toshiro killed Aizen and intends to destroy the Seireitei and betray the Soul Society. Therefore, confining Toshiro to Senzaikyu immediately seems somewhat inappropriate."

"Captain-Commander Yamamoto, while convicting the Vice-Captain-Commander based solely on Captain Ichimaru's report might be inappropriate, we cannot deny he is the most likely suspect, can we?" The other party retorted.

"This..."

Yamamoto had no rebuttal.

Indeed, Aizen's letter and Gin's testimony were highly detrimental to Toshiro. Furthermore, being able to swiftly kill a Captain-level expert without giving them a chance to call for help or escape… the individuals capable of such a feat, on the surface, appeared to be only Toshiro and Yamamoto himself.

So, all things considered, Toshiro was indeed the prime 'suspect' in Aizen's 'murder'.

"Moreover, we are not directly convicting the Vice-Captain-Commander. We merely ask him to stay in Senzaikyu temporarily. Once we investigate and clarify the matter, if he is truly innocent, we can release him then, can't we?" the messenger added.

"Hahaha..."

Toshiro suddenly burst into angry laughter.

"This is utterly ridiculous! This Vice-Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 was appointed by the Soul King himself. Even if I had committed a crime, it's not something the old fools of the Central 46 can judge!"

"You... How dare you show such disrespect to the Central 46!" The messenger exclaimed indignantly.

"Hmph! Is what I said incorrect?" Toshiro retorted.

"This... This..." The messenger was furious but couldn't refute it.

Toshiro's words, though seemingly arrogant, were not incorrect.

For an ordinary Captain, the Central 46 indeed had the authority to try and punish them. For example, after Aizen was defeated, the newly formed Central 46 sentenced him to twenty thousand years of imprisonment.

But that only applied to ordinary Captains. As for the Vice-Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, Toshiro, and the Captain-Commander, Yamamoto Genryusai, who are both directly appointed by the Soul King, the Central 46 could not directly try or punish them.

This was a form of balance. Otherwise, if the Central 46 could simply find a pretext to convict Yamamoto and Toshiro whenever they pleased, their power would become too inflated, completely disrupting the balance with the Gotei 13.

And this was not something the Soul King wished to see.

"You two, get lost! I will not be entering Senzaikyu with you!" Toshiro declared to the two messengers.

Given Toshiro's pride, even if this were all Aizen's scheme, even if he had committed a grave mistake, he would never allow himself to be imprisoned.

Such humiliation would never be part of his life.

"Vice-Captain-Commander Hitsugaya, as we've said, this is not a conviction. We merely ask for your cooperation in the investigation. There is nothing irregular about that. So even if this goes before the Soul King, we have nothing to fear," The messenger stated unflinchingly.

These two were clearly trying to exploit a loophole. While the Central 46 couldn't directly try or punish Toshiro, they wanted to use the authority of investigation cooperation to restrict his movements.

Ultimately, it came down to Toshiro's insufficient prestige. If it were Yamamoto, given his unparalleled authority in the Soul Society, they wouldn't dare do this.

Seeing Toshiro remain resolute, the other party's attitude softened slightly. "Of course, if the Vice-Captain-Commander does not wish to enter Senzaikyu, we can choose another location. However, until the matter is fully investigated, we ask that you remain in one place under our supervision and refrain from moving about freely."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Toshiro finally understood Aizen's objective.

Ultimately, Aizen went through all this trouble, having Gin step forward, even using the name of the Central 46 to try and imprison Toshiro… it was all to restrict Toshiro's movements.

Within the Soul Society, the strongest were likely Yamamoto, Toshiro, and Aizen himself. Therefore, Toshiro and Yamamoto were the ones Aizen feared most in terms of strength.

When Rukia's execution took place, if Toshiro, Yamamoto, and other powerful individuals were present, Aizen's attempt to extract the Hogyoku from Rukia would be extremely difficult.

Therefore, Aizen needed to find a way to restrict the movements of powerful individuals like Toshiro and Yamamoto, preventing them from interfering with his retrieval of the Hogyoku.

So, Aizen's elaborate trap for Toshiro today, having Gin frame him, likely wasn't intended to actually put Toshiro on trial. Its purpose was merely to have Toshiro temporarily confined, unable to act.

That way, Toshiro wouldn't be able to obstruct Aizen's plans when the time came.