Chapter 679 Aizen: All My Subordinates Are Useless

Aizen withdrew his gaze from the monitor screen. "Although it deviated somewhat from the original plan, we did see something interesting."

Gin glanced at the monitor showing Isshin struggling to his feet from the rubble. "Should we take him out? It'd be easy to do it now."

He made a throat-slitting gesture with his finger as he spoke.

Yoruichi was startled.

Although she wasn't particularly close to Isshin, he was still the uncle of her good friend, Shiba Kukaku.

Either way, she wanted to try to save his life.

With that thought, Yoruichi slightly turned her head, glancing at Aizen and Gin out of the corner of her eye to confirm they weren't looking at her. Then she opened her mouth and made a very subtle bobbing motion toward Makoto.

Makoto caught the little black cat's gesture out of the corner of his eye, a faint, barely perceptible smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

'Tsk, this little wildcat.'

He knew exactly what Yoruichi was implying.

"Forget it. He can't do anything anyway."

Makoto pulled his gaze away from Yoruichi. "But there's something else I'm more concerned about."

Hearing this, everyone's attention shifted to Makoto.

Makoto stopped playing games with Aizen. He spread his hands and laid his cards on the table.

"Now that our Hogyoku development is pretty much done, interestingly, the Hogyoku each of us has are exactly the ones the other needs."

As soon as he said this, everyone behind Makoto... Nel, Beam, and behind Aizen... Gin, Tosen, all immediately understood what he meant.

The Hogyoku in Makoto's possession was forged by Kisuke using countless Hollow souls, naturally possessing the ability to Hollowfy Shinigami, while also being able to suppress ongoing Hollowfication.

The Hogyoku in Aizen's possession was forged using Shinigami souls, naturally possessing the ability to Arrancarize Hollows.

The functions of the two Hogyoku were exactly opposite... Makoto's subordinates were all Hollows, so he needed Aizen's Hogyoku, which could Arrancarize Hollows.

Aizen's subordinates were mostly Shinigami, so he needed Makoto's Hogyoku, which could Hollowfy Shinigami.

The situation was like Team Magma and Team Aqua in the Pokémon anime... each wanted to control Groudon and Kyogre respectively, but Team Magma had the Sapphire Orb to control Kyogre, while Team Aqua had the Ruby Orb to control Groudon.

They each had what the other wanted.

"Want to trade?"

Makoto suggested with a smile.

Aizen paused, then chuckled and asked back, "Wouldn't it be better to fuse them together?"

In the original work, that was exactly what he had done.

After fusing the two Hogyoku, the complete Hogyoku possessed the dual abilities of both Hollow Arrancarization and Shinigami Hollowfication, its power far surpassing the state of either alone.

Hearing this suggestion, Makoto's smile widened. "Then, who gets to keep it?"

As soon as he said this, both sides' subordinates almost simultaneously assumed defensive postures, as if ready to break out into a fight.

The air in the monitoring room instantly froze to freezing point.

Makoto raised his hand to stop Beam and the others behind him, who were about to draw their weapons. "Easy. It's not time to turn on each other yet."

Hearing the words 'turn on each other' spoken so bluntly by Makoto, a flicker of surprise crossed Aizen's eyes.

He knew, of course, that he and Makoto would eventually fight.

Neither was the type to stay subordinate for long. Their cooperation was only temporary. In the end, there could only be one ruler of the three worlds.

But he hadn't expected Makoto to state it so openly.

Makoto's tone returned to calm. "Let's keep cooperating until we've dealt with the Seireitei and Yhwach. Then, after we've taken the Soul King Palace, we can have our final battle."

Aizen was silent for a moment. Then, a few seconds later, he also smiled.

"Indeed."

When it came to dealing with the Soul Society and Yhwach, his and Makoto's interests were completely aligned.

Rather than fighting over the Hogyoku now and letting a third party benefit, it was better to settle the score at the end.

Then, both sides simultaneously took their respective Hogyoku from their robes and tossed them to the other.

Two semi-transparent crystals, radiating completely different Reiatsu fluctuations, crossed arcs through the air and fell into each other's hands.

"Let's go back."

Makoto casually tucked the Hogyoku into his robes and tore open a Garganta.

Aizen's trio opened a Senkaimon in the opposite direction, the bright Reishi light illuminating a corner of the monitoring room.

When Aizen returned to the 5th Division's barracks, it was already late at night.

He crossed the courtyard and had just pushed open his office door when a small figure hurried over from the corridor corner.

Momo had probably been waiting for him all along, holding a stack of neatly organized squad documents, likely having helped him finish the overtime work.

"Captain Aizen! Where did you go? I looked for you everywhere..."

Momo's voice carried undisguised worry and dependence. The admiration and concern in her eyes seemed ready to overflow.

The moment Aizen turned to face Momo, his entire aura shifted.

The cold, sharp Aizen who had been facing off against Makoto in the monitoring room disappeared without a trace, replaced by the gentle, kind-hearted 5th Division's Captain that everyone in the Seireitei knew.

Aizen raised his hand and gently patted Momo's head, his palm brushing over her soft hair. "I went to the calligraphy club to practice writing and lost track of time. Sorry for making you worry, Hinamori."

"N-no, it's not that! It's me being too dependent on the Captain..."

Feeling the warmth from the large hand on her head, Momo's face instantly flushed red.

She knew that with Aizen's strength, nothing would happen to him.

But she just couldn't help herself. Whenever Aizen was out of her sight, she would inexplicably feel anxious.

At an angle where Momo, with her head lowered, couldn't see, Aizen's gaze toward her was cold and detached.

Up until now, Momo had been nothing but a pure pawn to Aizen. And not even a high-level pawn like Tosen, who was qualified to be a confidant. She was the type to be used and discarded without a second thought.

But, considering the current scale of Makoto's forces, Aizen had a different thought.

Should he also formally cultivate Momo into a confidant?

After all, upon closer inspection, the disparity between his and Makoto's forces was quite significant.

When he counted, the only one on his side who could truly be useful was Tosen, barely serving as a fighter, and Gin was still a traitor in the making.

On the other hand, Makoto had more Vasto Lorde-class combatants than he could count on both hands, and now that he had received the Hogyoku, he could soon Arrancarize his Menos Grandes, ushering in another qualitative leap in strength.

Under Aizen's command, he currently had only one fanatic and one double agent.

Although Aizen enjoyed the intellectual back-and-forth with someone as sharp as Makoto,

The disparity in their subordinates' strength was simply too great. This game couldn't be played.

So, should he invest more effort in Momo?

Have her master Bankai, even grant her Hollowfication power, and turn her into a truly capable combatant?

Aizen seriously considered the feasibility of this plan for a few seconds.

But then he thought of Momo's combat talent, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.

She was indeed diligent and her loyalty to him was beyond doubt, but her actual strength was severely lacking.

Sigh. Thinking about how he only had one bootlicker, one double agent, and one fangirl under his command, Aizen felt a wave of exhaustion.

Oh, by the way, he had learned the word 'bootlicker' from Makoto.

When Makoto had used it to describe Tosen, Aizen had found it a bit crude, but he had to admit it was accurate.

'Oh well. There was still some time before I fell out with Makoto. Before that, perfecting the Shinigami Hollowfication technique was the top priority.'