Bleach: The Shinigami Who Inherited Hashirama

The sound of swallowing echoed repeatedly.

Inside the vast abandoned warehouse, silence fell so deep it was suffocating.

All eyes were locked on the black Truth-Seeking Orb hovering in midair.

It wasn't large.

It wasn't dazzling like a Cero.

Yet to Shinji Hirako and the others, it carried a sensation they hadn't felt since fleeing Soul Society—

the sensation of death, right at their throats.

And what pushed them into true despair was simple:

The orb had fully stabilized.

Meaning—

in this confined space, even if they immediately cut their reiatsu, dropped the Kidō barrier, and scattered—

if Bai Chen decided to stop them…

and detonated that orb…

they wouldn't get out.

They wouldn't even have the time to try.

From the moment the orb appeared, the Visoreds' defeat was already inevitable.

"Damn it…!"

"Bai Chen, you bastard…!"

"He's going to wipe out the base we spent decades building!"

Hiyori's voice was ragged with fury, but it shook with fear she couldn't hide. Her bravado collapsed under the weight of absolute difference. Her eyes even trembled as her mental defenses cracked.

She looked like she might cry.

Bai Chen, in contrast, smiled even wider—almost satisfied.

"Not a true Truth-Seeking Orb…"

"But with the black reiatsu inside me…"

"what I've condensed here isn't inferior to Six Paths Senjutsu."

"It's the same kind of overwhelming power."

In his mind, Bai Chen measured it calmly.

In the shinobi world, Truth-Seeking Orbs were born from yin–yang and five-element power—formed by Six Paths–level chakra into a black "matter" that erased everything it touched.

But Bai Chen's version was different.

Its strength and destructive output depended purely on the magnitude and density of his reiatsu.

And because its compression principle mirrored a Cero's—just taken to an absurd extreme—

the destructive energy inside this orb was ten, even a hundred times beyond what their combined Ceros could match.

Eight of them together?

Even with the advantage of firing first?

Bai Chen didn't take it seriously.

When he looked at them, there was even a hint of pity.

The truth was—

he had no personal hatred toward the Visoreds.

He had come for one reason only:

to test the limits of Sage Mode.

If the orb detonated and they died?

That was on them.

Bai Chen had no intention of holding back.

At that moment—

Shinji gritted his teeth, pushed his terror down, and made the only choice left.

He fired.

A full-power Cero erupted—followed instantly by the others.

Eight crimson beams converged.

The entire warehouse turned blood-red.

Even knowing they would lose, Shinji roared through the blaze:

"If we're going down…!"

"Then we're taking you with us!!"

Bai Chen's face remained calm.

He simply smiled.

Then he lifted his hand and pushed his palm forward—

nudging the black orb ahead.

The moment the crimson torrent collided with the Truth-Seeking Orb—

BOOOOM—!!!

A world-splitting roar detonated.

The orb shattered—

and the black reiatsu sealed inside it exploded outward like a released abyss.

The Visoreds saw something that made their minds go blank.

"The Cero…"

"It disappeared?!"

"That was all eight of us…!"

Shinji stared, stunned.

Kensei's eyes went dead with disbelief.

Lisa went pale.

Hiyori's face twisted in horror.

Because in less than a blink—

their scarlet light was swallowed as if by a black void.

Not repelled.

Not deflected.

Erased.

Then the wave hit.

Black devastation surged like a tidal flood, pulverizing everything in its path.

The warehouse collapsed instantly.

The high-level Kidō barrier outside shattered and unraveled in pieces.

The ground screamed.

Massive fissures ripped open.

Dust and debris erupted into the sky.

"It's over…"

"This isn't even the same level of power…"

"We got completely crushed…"

As the darkness swallowed their vision, the last remnants of their courage broke.

And worse—

the pressure was so suffocating their reiatsu circulation stalled.

Their bodies couldn't respond.

Their Hollow masks cracked and shattered.

They were flung away, helpless, thrown into the storm—

and buried along with the base they had protected for decades.

High above, Bai Chen hovered in the air, looking down at the ruin.

"…I overdid it."

"I flattened the whole area."

Nearby buildings had either collapsed outright or were left half-standing, broken like rotten teeth.

He clicked his tongue faintly—then admitted it internally:

This "Shinigami-world Truth-Seeking Orb" was even more destructive than he'd estimated.

It was a success.

A terrifying one.

But there was a cost.

The moment the Kidō barrier disappeared, his actions were no longer concealed.

And Bai Chen's gaze sharpened.

"If I'm not mistaken…"

"that explosion's reiatsu signature…"

"will get picked up by Aizen's monitoring in the Human World."

He didn't need to imagine the next step.

If Aizen learned Bai Chen was in Karakura Town—

Aizen wouldn't hesitate.

He would activate his trump card.

Hollow White.

A Vasto Lorde–class killing machine designed to hunt Shinigami.

And city-to-city distance meant nothing to a monster like that.

If Bai Chen's guess was right—

then within minutes…

White would come.

Elsewhere — Fifth Division's Underground Chamber

Just as Bai Chen predicted, the abnormal wave was detected.

Tōsen Kaname bowed, voice low and respectful.

"Aizen-sama…"

"I've analyzed the data."

"That reiatsu… matches Bai Chen perfectly."

"So the disturbance in the Human World was caused by his battle."

Gin Ichimaru smiled, eyes thin and amused.

"And I just got word too."

"He slipped out through the north Senkaimon and left Seireitei alone."

"So Bai Chen… went to Karakura Town on his own."

Behind the reflection of his glasses, Aizen's eyes finally rippled—just slightly.

Not with worry.

With satisfaction.

Perfect.

He didn't care why Bai Chen went.

He didn't care if Urahara or the Visoreds had contact with him.

All that mattered was this:

The prey had stepped into the net by himself.

And Aizen's only thought now was simple—

order Tōsen to release White, send it to Karakura…

and begin a Hollowfication experiment more brutal than the one that destroyed the Visoreds a century ago.

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