Bleach: No cheat codes, he joined Aizen's side.

Chapter 167, page 165: A show can be done, and so can I!
Aizen's plans were never solely driven by a single objective. After a long period of scheming, Aizen always hoped to achieve the most results with the least amount of effort.

It's the same this time.

However, unlike his previous resounding victories, Aizen's plan this time proceeded very smoothly in every aspect except for his core objective: to expel the severely weakened Shiba family from the ranks of the four noble families in order to completely overwhelm Shiba Kukaku. This objective, however, was not achieved.

Aizen hadn't expected that Isshin Shiba, the Shiba branch family member he hadn't valued before, would be so stubborn as to lead a group of the branch family's main Shinigami to the front lines to resist the attacks of the Hollows.

This move not only helped the Shiba family members who split off from the main branch escape the large-scale purge of the Shiba family by the Arrancar that Aizen had specifically arranged, but also helped the Shiba family win the support of some neutral nobles in this incident.

If it weren't for the well-known reason that Higashino Shuichi, the Great Sword Hunter, belongs to the Tsuna Yayo family, then most nobles could confidently say that in this incident, only the Shiba family demonstrated the responsibility expected of the five great noble families.

Although the limelight was ultimately stolen by the Tsunayo family, represented by Higashino Shuichi, it is highly unlikely that the Tsunayo family would unite with other nobles to launch a campaign to exclude the Shiba family.

Because not only did the core members of the main branch of the Shiba family, such as Shiba Kukaku, Shiba Ganju, and Shiba Kaien, survive, but the branch family also preserved a great deal of fighting power. In particular, Shiba Isshin, who had become the head of the branch family, successfully mastered the Bankai of his Zanpakuto during the battle against the Hollows. After the war, he and the new head of the Kuchiki family, Kuchiki Byakuya, officially filled the gaps left by the captains who were sacrificed in this incident.

Kuchiki Byakuya became the new captain of the 6th Division, and Shiba Isshin became the new captain of the 10th Division.

This caused significant resistance to Tsunayoshiro Kanbara's plan to expel the Shiba family.

After all, Shiba Isshin is a brand new captain, quite different from the elderly head of the Shiba family before.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Isshin Shiba's existence will bring at least several hundred years of peace to the Shiba family. If we add the new head of the Shiba family, Kaien Shiba, who possesses terrifying talent and whose becoming a captain is only a matter of time, then Tsunayoshiro Kanbara's idea will become a reality in his lifetime.

Whenever he thought of this, Tsunayoshiro Shinbara felt a little annoyed that Higashino Shuichi had to deal with Barragan so quickly. Wouldn't it have been better to wait a little longer, until the Hollows had killed more members of the Shiba family?
Of course, Tsunayoshiro Shinbara would only think these words, which were detrimental to unity, in his heart; it was impossible for him to actually say them to Higashino Shuichi.

The two people's relationship is not that good yet.

For Aizen, this was also a troublesome matter.

Since the Shiba family was not kicked out of the five great noble families as expected, and there is no longer any such concern for a long time to come, it will be difficult for Higashino Shuichi to strike while the iron is hot and build a good relationship with Shiba Kukaku and get the latter to produce the technical data he wants.

Which is easier to win over: Shiba Kukaku, one of the five noble families, or Shiba Kukaku, a down-on-his-luck commoner? Even Aizen, who has no experience in this area, knows the answer.

Here, Higashino Shuichi has to complain about Aizen's inexplicable thought process.

Even though he had already bought a legitimate ticket to the Soul King Palace, Aizen insisted on getting a scalped ticket himself.

Fortunately, Aizen always left himself room for maneuver in his actions.

For example, in this incident, he planned to cause a large number of casualties in Soul Society. In order to prevent unnecessary losses due to the Soul Society's retaliation afterward, Aizen took the initiative to give all the pawns he had prepared in Hueco Mundo to the Gotei 13 as gifts.

As a result, even on the surface, the casualties on Hueco Mundo were even more severe. So much so that after reviewing the statistics submitted by the 12th Division, Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni remained silent for a long time.

Because unless he wants to deal with a group of Rukongai civilians himself, he really can't touch the Hollows in Hueco Mundo, otherwise the two worlds will lose their balance.

This also became a headache for Tsunayoshi Tokinada.

Soul Society is now aware of the Arrancar's situation, but for the foreseeable future, Soul Society will maintain a state of strategic contraction in order to achieve a new perfect balance between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo.

Under these circumstances, it became a pipe dream for him to manipulate the situation so that Higashino Hideaki could legitimately contact the Arrancar in Hueco Mundo and subdue them for his own use.

Therefore, from any perspective, Aizen's claim that this was a spur-of-the-moment decision was actually a meticulously planned major event. Higashino Shuichi realized that he seemed to be the only one who benefited the most.

Not only did he gain fame, status, and emotional manipulation, he also significantly increased his spiritual pressure level.

In short, they've won too much.

But while some rejoice, others grieve; human joys and sorrows are never the same.

Sitting in the vice-captain's lounge of the Fourth Division, I listened to the members of the Fourth Division outside discussing with great interest the performance of the great sword-wielding commander, Higashino Shuichi, in this incident.

Seinosuke Yamada felt extremely uncomfortable.

Please, how many days has it been?
So what if he just killed a Hueco Mundo lord?

Isn't he just someone who once served as the vice-captain of the Fourth Division?

You're discussing Higashino Shuichi so openly in front of me, the current vice-captain, have you really considered my feelings?!
Although the team members didn't discuss it openly in front of Seinosuke Yamada, Seinosuke Yamada still felt unhappy.

He used to attribute this to the fact that Captain Unohana always kept an eye on Shuichi Higashino. Whenever Shuichi Higashino was present, Captain Unohana's gaze would always intentionally or unintentionally look at Shuichi Higashino.

Yes, he admitted it; he was jealous.

But now, Seinosuke Yamada has discovered that even if Captain Unohana isn't mentioned, he feels unhappy whenever Higashino Shuichi is being praised.

As they are both vice-captains of the Fourth Division, whenever others praise Higashino Shuichi, he always unconsciously compares himself to Higashino Shuichi, wondering where he falls short of Higashino Shuichi.
Well, it seems that apart from returning to the Dao, he really can't compare in any other way.

But the more this happened, the more frustrated he felt.

Seinosuke Yamada felt that the position of vice-captain of the Fourth Division was completely overshadowed by Shuichi Higashino, like a persistent leech that he could not shake off.

Even though Shuichi Higashino has been out of the position for many years, Seinosuke Yamada still feels that he is living in Higashino's shadow.

He even noticed that since Higashino Shuichi made a high-profile return to Soul Society from the human world, his captain, Unohana Retsu, had been visiting the Fourth Division's secret training ground, which belonged solely to her, much more often.

They stayed there for a long time each time, yet there were no signs of fighting, as if their captain was waiting for something.

Seinosuke Yamada knew he might, and should, know the answer, but he didn't even have the courage to say the name in his mind.

"Why? Why do you only have eyes for Higashino Shuichi?"

Looking at the sealed documents laid out in front of him, Seinosuke Yamada wondered who he was asking this question to.

He knew that the answer he was looking for might be right there.

Because these are several documents that his captain, Retsu Unohana, kept.

Judging from the marks above, it's clear that it's been quite some time.

If it weren't for the attack by the Hollows that destroyed the Fourth Division's barracks, including the captain's rest room, and the fact that Captain Unohana had left for a while, Seinosuke Yamada would most likely never have seen these documents.

Initially, Seinosuke Yamada hadn't intended to keep these documents for himself. However, upon seeing that they all bore his captain's handwriting, and that the handwriting clearly revealed the name Higashino Shuichi, after a complex internal struggle, Seinosuke Yamada mustered the courage to quietly take them from under the ruins of the captain's rest room. What kind of information about Higashino Shuichi could have kept the captain for so long?
Could this be the reason why the captain is so impressed with Higashino Shuichi?

Seinosuke Yamada took a deep breath and finally reached out his nervous left hand to open the first book.

Well.
The first book is unremarkable, recounting several investigations into the casualties of Shinigami a hundred years ago. It mentions that the Hollows who attacked the Shinigami did not devour the Shinigami's spiritual power after defeating it. Instead, they used a very special extraction method to brutally strip away most of the Shinigami's core spiritual power, causing these Shinigami to die from the depletion of their spiritual power rather than from mere injury.

At this time, according to Yamada Seinosuke's understanding, Higashino Shuichi was just an ordinary member of the Fourth Division, while he himself was already a seat officer.

Therefore, he couldn't understand what this had to do with Shuichi Higashino.

Then Seinosuke Yamada opened the second document. The contents were not much different from the first one; it was a follow-up investigation of the injured Shinigami's body.

However, this time, the time interval is much closer to now, and all the Shinigami investigated in the data are Shinigami that their Fourth Division has treated. They have one thing in common with the Shinigami in the previous data, that is, a part of the core spiritual power in their bodies involving the soul has been stripped away in a special way.

The difference is that, compared to the Grim Reapers in the previous book who died quickly after being deprived of their powers, the Grim Reapers recorded in this book have basically no impact on their normal lives due to these losses.

It won't even affect their own strength, because the amount of loss is strictly controlled, as if it were meticulously designed, not a bit more or less.

However, this document makes no mention of Higashino Shuichi at all. But based on the timeline provided in the document, Yamada Seinosuke can roughly recall that Higashino Shuichi had become the vice-captain of the Fourth Division at that time.

But what does this have to do with Shuichi Higashino?

With these questions in mind, Seinosuke Yamada turned to the third document.

Finally, he saw the name of Higashino Shuichi in this document.

This is a survey conducted by Captain Unohana, who was then the captain of the 12th Division, and the subject of the survey is a Shinigami who was treated by Higashino Shuichi.

The investigation revealed that this Grim Reaper also exhibited the phenomena mentioned in the first two books.

But that's all the information we have; there's nothing more to it.

Seinosuke Yamada instinctively felt that this was a continuous story, and that there should be a sequel. However, when he tried to turn to the next document, he was shocked to find that there was nothing more.
He retrieved only these three documents from the ruins of the captain's rest room.

"There must be more than just these three documents; there should be some more later."

At that moment, Seinosuke Yamada felt a pang of regret.

He regretted not searching more thoroughly in the ruins; perhaps he could have found the entire set of documents.

At that moment, he completely forgot that just a few hours ago, he wasn't like this.

But for Seinosuke Yamada right now, it's like following a novel he likes, getting to the latest chapter, just reaching the climax, only to have the author suddenly cut it off – it's extremely frustrating.

In particular, his reluctance to go to the captain's lounge to look for the later parts is tantamount to him confirming that the author had simply abandoned the story, making people even more furious.

Having no other option, Seinosuke Yamada could only deduce the whole story based on his own logic.

First of all, since the captain marked Higashino Shuichi's name on all three documents, it can be confirmed that these three documents are definitely related to Higashino Shuichi.
Secondly, although these three documents span a relatively long period of time, they undoubtedly all point to the same thing;

Finally, and most importantly, what role did Hideichi Higashino play in all of this?
The culprit?

How can it be!

This idea was immediately ruled out by Seinosuke Yamada, because if Shuichi Higashino was really the culprit, how could Captain Unohana have kept him around until now?

That kind of criminal should have been executed long ago!
So why did Higashino Shuichi get involved in these things?

In particular, the third document suggests that at that time, Higashino Shuichi was very likely already deeply involved in the incident.

Soon, after repeated consideration, Seinosuke Yamada finally came up with an explanation that he found convincing and reasonable.

That is, Higashino Shuichi was the one who was asked by Captain Unohana to conduct a secret investigation and research on this matter.

Captain Unohana must have noticed something was wrong and then had Higashino Shuichi, who was then the vice-captain, lead a secret investigation into the incident.

So, it's easy to guess what the subsequent materials contained; it must be something that Higashino Shuichi ultimately discovered through his investigation and research, which is why...
wrong
Thinking of this, Seinosuke Yamada's mind suddenly cleared as if struck by lightning.

He frantically went through the documents again to review the specific dates recorded in those documents, and then he looked through the Fourth Division's calendar. In that long calendar, he remembered.

At that time, he had been challenging Higashino Shuichi for the position of vice-captain. However, since he couldn't beat Higashino Shuichi, he had to resort to unorthodox methods, using the strength of the back path as a breakthrough point in order to defeat Higashino Shuichi.

Originally, Captain Unohana's request was always denied, but one day, Captain Unohana suddenly agreed, and he successfully won the position of vice-captain from Shuichi Higashino.

Does this mean that Shuichi Higashino did not actually meet Captain Unohana's expectations at the time?
He failed to investigate the matter successfully and did not figure out the real reason behind it.
Yes, that must be the reason!
Otherwise, why would Captain Unohana suddenly agree to her request? Was it because she suddenly disliked Higashino Shuichi?

How can this be?

However, after taking office, he did not demonstrate the same research talent as Higashino Shuichi. Instead, he was only focused on proving his expertise in the field to Captain Unohana, which led Captain Unohana to later return the vice-captain position to Higashino Shuichi.
At this point, all of Captain Unohana's past actions have been given a reasonable explanation!
In fact, Higashino Shuichi had been secretly conducting some unknown investigations and research for Captain Unohana all along!
Those are investigations and studies that the Soul Society doesn't value or that are inconvenient to conduct publicly!

Even the Hollowfication incident back then could have been the bitter fruit of Higashino Shuichi's research going wrong.

This explains why Shuichi Higashino can now openly return to Soul Society, because he was doing these things secretly for Soul Society under Captain Unohana's instructions.

Clearing his name was merely a form of compensation from Captain Unohana and the Soul Society.

From beginning to end, Shuichi Higashino never betrayed Soul Society, which explains why he stepped forward a few days ago to protect Soul Society from the Lord of Hueco Mundo in its time of crisis.

All the doubts of the past suddenly vanished in Yamada Seinosuke's mind at this moment.

However, he did not intend to make his discovery public.

Instead, she wanted to prove herself to Captain Unohana in her own way.

A show can be done, and so can I!
With a rough guy like Higashino Shuichi who can't even do something as refined as a return path properly, it would be a miracle if he could do this kind of research well!
Failure and backlash are inevitable!

But Seinosuke Yamada is different; he is confident that he can do even better than Shuichi Higashino!

(End of this chapter)