"Does he really hope he won't go down the wrong path anymore?"
In a spacious room, Aizen sat leisurely in a high-backed chair, resting his face on one hand while watching the screen in front of him with amusement.
On the screen, a live feed from the Hokage's office played. The image was so clear that even the folds of Hiruzen's ceremonial robe and the specks of dust on his collar could be seen in detail.
Yet, the people being watched—Hiruzen and the others—were completely unaware of it. They continued their conversation, oblivious to the surveillance.
"What a noble wish," Aizen muttered softly, shifting his gaze to another screen.
This screen displayed the interior of the Root headquarters.
Danzo, now free of his bandages, was holding a syringe and injecting something into his right arm. As he did, his face twisted in pain. Then, moments after the injection, a white, bone-like mask began to spread over his face, and he let out an unconscious, beast-like growl.
Crack.
After a few dozen seconds, the mask shattered, and his face returned to normal.
"Five seconds longer than last time."
Danzo took a deep breath, murmuring to himself, "I can feel it. I'm getting closer to achieving full Hollowfication. Just wait, Hiruzen… and that bastard Aizen! You will both pay for this! No one leaves Root. No one!"
Has he already started becoming more extreme due to the influence of the Hollows' negative emotions? As expected, a failed experiment.
Aizen paid no attention to the threats on the screen from Danzo. He was simply analyzing the conclusions of his research while occasionally sipping his tea.
Not far from him, Konan was still in shock, unable to snap out of it. It wasn't surprising—anyone standing in a place like this would find it hard to stay calm.
This was a laboratory filled with a sci-fi atmosphere, packed with all kinds of instruments, tools, and materials.
At the front of the lab was a row of surveillance monitors.
The screens displayed the offices of the Kage from different ninja villages. Not just their offices—Konan even spotted a few places she knew very well.
The Akatsuki base, Nagato's residence, and even Uchiha Madara's burial site!
Even though she had read the original Naruto story, Konan never knew that Madara's resting place was in a valley at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. But here, on the screen, a neat little annotation pointed it out.
Terrifying!
If she hadn't stepped into this lab, she would never have known that Aizen had been secretly monitoring the entire ninja world.
But more than the surveillance, what caught Konan's attention were the rows of cultivation tanks placed to the side. Inside them were eerily lifelike corpses, many of whom she recognized.
Pakura of the Scorch Style, Hozuki Mangetsu, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and Ringo Ameyuri, to name a few.
They were supposed to be dead. Some should have long since turned to dust. Yet in these cultivation tanks, they looked almost alive.
However, each of them had parts of their faces covered by white bone-like masks, making them look somewhat eerie.
Seeing these human figures, Konan was struck by a sudden realization. Her eyes widened.
"They are Arrancar."
A soft voice suddenly broke the silence.
Creak.
Konan slowly turned her head, meeting Aizen's deep brown eyes that seemed to pierce straight into her soul.
At that moment, fear gripped her heart. She knew that her reaction just now had definitely made Aizen suspicious.
"By injecting Reishi into the soul and merging it with Hollow essence, the dead will adapt to Hollow power even better than the living."
Strangely, Aizen didn't seem to mind her reaction. Instead, he smiled and explained, "Compared to the living, they can reach a complete Hollow transformation much more easily. That's why I call them Arrancar."
Konan's heart was pounding, but she forced herself to stay calm. "According to what you said before, Reishi doesn't exist in the ninja world. If that's the case, how did you inject it into their souls?"
"It's not that it doesn't exist, but rather that the ninja world rejects it, making it difficult to gather."
Aizen turned slightly, the dim light casting deep shadows on his face. "But if someone strong enough uses spiritual pressure to forcefully draw in Reishi, it can still be gathered quite easily. However, in this place, we don't even need to go through that trouble..."
"This place?" Konan caught onto a key detail.
"Yes. Because this isn't the ninja world." Aizen's lips curled into a slight smile as he gazed out the window. "This is the Pure Land. A realm where souls naturally reside. The density of Reishi here is no less than that of the Soul Society."
P-Pure Land?!
Konan's face showed complete disbelief. She even forgot to hide the fact that she knew about the Soul Society.
Her mind buzzed, her expression blank.
She was standing in the land of the dead?
And Aizen had managed to set up his base here? How in the world did he do it?!
Wait.
Konan suddenly remembered—when she followed Aizen earlier, they had entered a pitch-black tunnel.
Could that have been a Garganta? Did Aizen actually connect his base to the Pure Land using Garganta?!
What a crazy idea!
Konan took a deep breath, still in shock.
This villain from Bleach was truly living up to his reputation. Even after coming to a different world, he was pulling off things no one could have imagined.
Not only had he placed his base in the Pure Land, but he was also monitoring every major force in the ninja world.
And on top of that, he was even cultivating an army of Arrancar beyond normal standards… not to mention his own terrifying power that seemed bottomless.
At this point, Konan couldn't even imagine what kind of person or force could possibly stop this man from taking over the ninja world.
If possible, she almost wanted to advise the ninja world to just surrender.
Because from the very start, they never had a chance of winning this war.