This sudden abdication, if heard by the outside world, would surely trigger enormous waves.
However, Setsuna's face showed neither surprise nor joy. Instead, a knowing smile of 'I thought so' appeared.
He did not take up Yamamoto's topic, but shifted the conversation:
"It seems my hunch was correct after all. Captain-Commander, you have been avoiding someone's gaze all along, haven't you? Only here in the Dangai, which does not belong to the three worlds, do you dare speak your true thoughts."
An unconcealable flash of surprise crossed Yamamoto's eyes. He laughed scoldingly:
"Ha... you brat, you're even sharper and more perceptive than I imagined."
Setsuna smiled faintly. "Let me guess. Someone whose very name you, the founder of the Gotei 13 and the strongest Shinigami in a millennium, fear so much that you dare not even easily mention in Soul Society... Is it because of the Zero Division?"
Yamamoto slowly nodded, his expression solemn. "Few things in Soul Society can escape that person's eyes. The leader of the Zero Division, Hyosube Ichibe'e, also known as the Monk Who Calls the Real Name."
Seeing that Setsuna's expression showed no great surprise upon hearing [the Monk], Yamamoto couldn't help but remark:
"It seems you have already walked very far on the path of seeking truth, far enough to glimpse the hands that move the pieces at the edge of this world's chessboard."
Setsuna shrugged. "I'm just more curious by nature. I don't like being kept in the dark."
Yamamoto took a deep breath and spoke in a grave voice:
"Besides the risks of Reishi Imbalance and the collapse into Hell that I mentioned before, there is another more direct reason why I am reluctant to easily shatter the existing, albeit rotten, order of Soul Society. That is the ancestors of the Five Great Nobles."
Setsuna's eyebrow rose. "They are still alive?"
He was not particularly surprised by this. If the Monk could survive for a million years, it seemed reasonable that those original nobles who actually participated in partitioning and sealing the Soul King, and gained the most from it, might also have survived.
"Alive? Perhaps." Yamamoto's tone carried uncertainty and deep apprehension.
"More accurately, they 'exist'. I am not clear on their exact state now, but they should all exist within Hell."
"There is an old saying from the Living World: 'When a person dies, they become a ghost; when a ghost dies, they become a Depraved. A ghost's fear of Depraved is like a person's fear of ghosts'."
"If the souls in Soul Society are 'ghosts', then the souls in Hell are [Depraved]. Hell is the world of Depraved, the terminus and final resting place of souls, and also an accumulation ground for higher powers and grudges."
Yamamoto got to the point. "Do you know why, although Soul Society nominally has the ancient legend of the Five Great Nobles, only four families, Tsunayashiro, Kuchiki, Shihoin, and Shiba, are known on the surface?"
Setsuna raised an eyebrow. "You mean the fifth family is in Hell?"
Yamamoto nodded. "Correct. The fifth noble family, the Ota Clan, has generation after generation guarded Hell."
Setsuna understood. "So that's why their name is never heard in Soul Society."
Yamamoto continued, "Do you still remember the Konso Reisai you mentioned earlier? After a Captain-level Shinigami dies, their spiritual body cannot naturally decompose and must be sent to Hell."
"Under normal circumstances, Soul Society produces about three to five Captain-level Shinigami every hundred years."
Setsuna nodded slightly. Although before the establishment of the Shin'o Academy and the Gotei 13, the rate of producing Third-class Reiryoku Shinigami in Soul Society was certainly not as fast as it is now...
But even just within the Four Great Noble Families themselves, the number of Captain-level Shinigami born every hundred years probably reached this figure.
Yamamoto continued, "Then, over the course of a million years, Hell may have accumulated tens of thousands of Captain-level Shinigami souls!"
This number caused even Setsuna's gaze to freeze slightly.
'Tens of thousands of captain-level Shinigami?'
'Even if they were just the most ordinary 3rd-class Reiryoku captains, that would still be a terrifying force capable of sweeping across all of Soul Society!'
Yamamoto sighed. "These powerful Shinigami, every single one of them fought to the death in life to protect Soul Society and maintain order. Yet the vast majority of them died without knowing..."
"That their final destination was not rest, but to be sent into Hell by their own comrades. What immense resentment, anger, and unwillingness would accumulate in their hearts?"
He looked at Setsuna, his eyes shimmering with deep concern:
"I have long suspected that the ancestors of the Five Great Nobles are very likely plotting something within Hell."
"For example, using that vast power, accumulated over a million years and filled with grudges, to make the Soul King fall from his throne. That would be a catastrophe even more terrifying than the three worlds losing balance and falling into Hell!"
Setsuna nodded. Although he was not clear on the specific plots of the Five Noble Families' ancestors, at the very least, the ancestor of the Tsunayashiro Clan was certainly capable of such things.
"Therefore." Yamamoto's voice became extremely firm, yet also carried a hint of release.
"For the past thousand years, I have been waiting for a successor sufficiently powerful, sufficiently clear-sighted, and sufficiently courageous to appear."
"Then, I can peacefully go to my death, enter Hell as a Captain, and see the truth there for myself, to prevent the ultimate disaster that may occur!"
"I see." The picture became suddenly clear in Setsuna's mind. Many unclear points from the original work seemed to have new perspectives for explanation.
No wonder Yamamoto was unwilling to heal his severed hand during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. No wonder despite being the strongest Shinigami, his performance in various situations seemed lackluster.
It turned out he had long been mentally prepared to die.
But he couldn't die too sloppily, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to deceive the Monk at all.
Furthermore, the fact that the Eighth and Ninth Espada, after entering Hell, couldn't even defeat ordinary soldiers also illustrated the terror of Hell.
Setsuna thought to himself: 'It seems the level of power and the rules in Hell are completely different from those in Soul Society. An ordinary Captain going down there would probably find it extremely difficult to move even an inch.'
Yamamoto gazed intently at Setsuna and asked:
"Knowing all this, knowing that Hell may contain tens of thousands of grudge-filled Captain-level souls, and may even contain ancient monsters like the Five Ancestors... Are you afraid?"
Setsuna laughed. "Don't mention tens of thousands of Captain-level souls. Even if there were a million Captain souls, what is there to fear?"
"Let's calculate based on a million Captains. Ninety-nine percent of them are probably just basic 3rd-class Reiryoku. Of the remaining ten thousand captains, ninety-nine percent are 2nd-class Reiryoku. The number who truly reach 1st-class Reiatsu probably doesn't even reach one hundred."
Setsuna paused, golden light swirling in his eyes:
"And among that hundred, those like you and me, who have transcended 1st-class Reiatsu and stepped into the realm of [Transcendents], are probably only one or two. Perhaps only the Five Noble Ancestors themselves."
"Power has never undergone qualitative change simply through the accumulation of quantity. A flock of sheep, no matter how numerous, cannot defeat a single lion."
According to the original timeline, within these two thousand years, Yamamoto, Aizen, and Ichigo reached this realm. It seemed like many, but actually, it was due to the progress of Soul Society.
Just like in his previous life, the development of human civilization over a few thousand years surpassed millions of years of human history.