BLEACH: UNOHANA RETSU IS MY WIFE

The Western Gate — The White Road Gate!

One of the four gates protecting the Soul Society...

This battlefield now belonged to the Gotei 13's First Division.

Amidst raging flames, a short yet imposing figure advanced silently, stepping over a carpet of corpses.

Beneath his feet lay both the charred remains of Quincy warriors and the lifeless bodies of fallen Shinigami. The cries of the dying and the stench of death filled the air—but none of it could halt his steps. His heart was iron, his gaze sharp like forged steel.

Only when he received the Tenjo Kura from Araki did he pause.

"Hmph... That brat Araki already quelled the chaos at the Red Hollow Gate?"

"He's faster than I expected..."

He muttered to himself, clearly surprised. But when he recalled Araki had been the first to depart, it made sense.

"Die, Shinigami!!"

Suddenly, white-clad Quincy warriors burst forth from behind the flame-scorched walls, charging straight at him.

"Fools."

The man's eyes flashed with disdain. Raising the blade in his hand—wreathed in blazing fire—he faced the attackers without flinching.

"Everything in this universe returns to ash. And you will become cinders beneath this flame!"

Yes, this man walking alone across a battlefield of death was none other than Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13.

With a single motion of his flaming Zanpakutō, he unleashed a roaring firestorm.

"Boom!!"

A fiery dragon burst forth, incinerating all in its path. Quincy arrows dissolved in mid-air. Sternritter warriors—those who leapt with blades raised—vanished the instant they touched the flames.

Quincies who had been kneeling and sobbing… Shinigami who lay crippled and half-dead, unable to flee… all were swallowed by the inferno.

"Do not grieve. Your sacrifice shall not be forgotten. When this war ends, I will offer the heads of our enemies as tribute to your scattered souls..."

Yamamoto's voice was low, resolute—speaking both to himself and to the spirits of the fallen Shinigami now returning to the cycle of rebirth.

He was no healer. He knew no Kaido to mend wounds. His sword offered only destruction.

The Zanpakutō in his hands—Ryujin Jakka—was the most powerful offensive weapon in all of Soul Society. Its power so immense that even friendly forces nearby would be consumed by the flames.

And so, Yamamoto chose to fight alone.

Yet he was not a man without heart. He had witnessed the struggle, the devotion, the sacrifices made by countless Shinigami across every division.

Thus, there was only one thing left for him to do—

Kill.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

Kill until not a single enemy remains.

Only then could he offer redemption to the dead.

Moments passed.

With his Zanpakutō finally sealed, the White Road Gate battlefield had become a scorched wasteland—utterly lifeless, save for one man standing in the inferno.

"...Chojiro."

Genryusai's voice cut through the silent ruins.

"Yes, Master Genryusai!"

From behind him emerged a figure cloaked in ash-gray—a familiar silhouette.

It was none other than Sasakibe Chojiro, Vice-Captain of the First Division.

"Relay this to the entire Seireitei. All enemy forces that assaulted the White Road Gate have been eradicated—by my hand."

Genryusai spoke without looking back.

"As you command...!"

Chojiro's expression froze briefly in awe. Then, biting down on his thumb, he drew a blood sigil upon his arm.

"Bakudō #77: Tenteikūra!"

"Attention all divisions! This is Vice-Captain Sasakibe of the First Division! The White Road Gate has been secured! All enemy troops have been annihilated—by Captain-Commander Yamamoto himself! I repeat: all enemies have been destroyed by Captain-Commander Yamamoto!"

Chojiro Sasakibe deliberately repeated Genryusai Yamamoto's words twice, pointedly emphasizing to the captains of the Gotei 13 that every single Quincy who attacked the White Path Gate had been killed by Yamamoto alone.

"Well done, Chojiro. You conveyed it perfectly."

Yamamoto received the message Chojiro subtly delivered. His stern expression softened slightly as he nodded in approval.

"It was nothing, Head-Captain. Not worth praise."

Chojiro smiled humbly, though the understanding between the two was already clear.

As Yamamoto's loyal Vice Captain for centuries, Chojiro knew the old man's heart like no other. From the moment Yamamoto received Araki's report and unleashed his full power, Chojiro could already sense it—

Yamamoto's competitive spirit had been ignited.

Hearing that Araki had single-handedly crushed the enemy at Zhuwa Gate struck a nerve in Yamamoto. As the Head-Captain of the Gotei 13—and Araki's mentor—he couldn't allow himself to be shown up by his subordinate, not now. Pride demanded he prove that he was still unmatched.

"Prepare all divisions to fall back to the interior of the Seireitei," Yamamoto ordered, his tone grave.

"If the Quincy Emperor that Araki warned us not to underestimate isn't at my gate—or Araki's—then it's likely he never aimed to engage us directly at all."

"I suspect he bypassed the fighting entirely. While we were occupied defending the Four Gates—White Path, Blue Stream, Black Field, and Red Harmony—he and his elite guards likely slipped through... heading straight for the heart of the Seireitei."

He clenched his fist, his voice deepening.

"Troublesome. I underestimated his ambition—and how well he understands our internal structure. Still... let him run rampant if he dares."

"I'll cut him down myself, in the center of the Seireitei!"

Yamamoto's sharp gaze pierced through the veil of smoke rising over the city, as if trying to glimpse the threat already unfolding deep within.

As if to confirm Yamamoto's suspicions—

No one could have foreseen that Yhwach, Emperor of the Quincy, would abandon direct battle with the Gotei 13. Using his forces at the Four Gates as mere bait, he had already led the Sternritter's elite deeper into Soul Society… toward the sacred land of the noble clans.

The once-beautiful estates of the Five Great Noble Families—glorious, sprawling palaces that ordinary Shinigami could only dream of—had been turned into a blazing inferno.

This was not just an invasion. It was a massacre.

The 'rulers' of the old Soul Society—the aristocracy, the elites who held centuries of power—had been targeted first.

Smoke and blood stained the sky as the palatial structures collapsed into smoldering ruin. Signs of fierce resistance were clear, but it hadn't been enough.

Amid the corpses strewn across the scorched earth, Yhwach stood tall.

"If I slay the heads of the Five Noble Families—these parasites with tainted blood—"

He looked skyward, his voice low and venomous.

"—then even you won't be able to sit idle in the heavens while I reduce your world to ash."

His cold gaze pierced the sky. He wasn't speaking to the Gotei 13.

He was addressing something far higher.

Because from the beginning…

Yhwach's true objective was never the ground.

It was the sky above.

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