Yamamoto stared blankly at Setsuna for a long moment, then let out a heartfelt, relieved long sigh:
"What spirit! What insight! If it were anyone else, learning that Hell might contain tens of thousands of Captains, they would probably have already been frightened into mental collapse, their will to fight completely gone. Yet you regard it as nothing."
"This temperament and spirit are enough to prove that you are fully capable and fully qualified to succeed as Captain-Commander!"
His eyes became exceedingly bright, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from him. "In this way, I can finally rest easy."
Yamamoto stepped forward, pointing his own chest towards Setsuna.
He said calmly, "Come, Captain Chiaki. Use your blade to kill me. Then, bearing my recognition and my final will, return to Soul Society and inherit the position of Captain-Commander."
"And I, with this broken body, will use it as a ticket to Hell, to go there, for the sake of Soul Society and the three worlds, to uncover the final truth and sweep away the final hidden danger!"
"Captain-Commander," Setsuna shook his head, "You overestimate my patience far too much."
"Let me be Captain-Commander? On my first day in office, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to resist uprooting those nobles who have sucked the blood of Soul Society for a million years, from top to bottom, and physically eliminating them."
"At that time, I'm afraid the Seireitei would flow with rivers of blood, and the Central 46 would rename itself overnight to the [Central Morgue 46]."
The corner of Yamamoto's mouth twitched slightly. He patiently admonished:
"If it were just ordinary turmoil, that guy Hyosube Ichibe'e wouldn't care. But if it were to shake the very structure of Soul Society, I cannot guarantee what his attitude would be."
Setsuna waved his hand. "I don't care what his attitude is."
Yamamoto said helplessly, "I know you are not afraid of him. But what if he can summon the Five Noble Ancestors back from Hell to Soul Society? For the sake of the overall situation, we should still exercise patience."
Setsuna laughed. "So, this kind of playing the shrinking violet is better left to you. After all, you should be used to it by now."
Yamamoto's eyelids twitched violently, 'This guy actually regards the position of Captain-Commander as playing the shrinking violet?'
"As for me..." A light burst forth in Setsuna's eyes. "Let me go to Hell and sweep away the hidden dangers."
Regarding large-scale slaughter of Hollows in Hueco Mundo, he was actually a bit worried it might affect the balance. But if it were Hell, that would be fine.
If he could devour all the Hollows or fallen Shinigami in Hell, it was unimaginable how powerful his soul would become.
Yamamoto, of course, did not know what Setsuna was thinking. Upon hearing Setsuna's plan, he couldn't help but feel profound respect:
"You are actually willing, for the future of Soul Society and to eradicate the ultimate hidden danger, to actively choose to fall into Hell, a place more terrible and more unknown than death itself!"
Yamamoto sighed. "I am ashamed! I originally thought that my thousand years of forbearance and nurturing of younger generations counted as a sacrifice for the greater good, as having some courage."
"But now it seems, compared to your spirit of not hesitating to personally enter Hell to uncover the truth and eradicate the root cause, my capacity is still far inferior!"
Setsuna knew he had misunderstood. He smiled faintly:
"I'm not thinking of going to Hell for the greater good of Soul Society. I purely want to go out of my disgust for the nobles."
"In the Living World, power is passed down through blood. Why, in the world of the dead, should I still be unable to escape the constraints of bloodline? Wouldn't that mean I died for nothing?"
Yamamoto was momentarily stunned, then sighed:
"But even so, for someone as young and with unlimited potential, a strong one, to fall like this would truly be a pity. Soul Society needs power like yours that dares to break outdated rules."
"Who said I plan to die?" Setsuna shook his head slightly. "There should be some way to enter Hell without dying, right?"
"You mean the Gates of Hell?" Yamamoto frowned slightly.
"Theoretically, a Shinigami can indeed enter Hell through the Gates of Hell. But for Transcendents like us, the essence of our souls and the intensity of our Reiatsu have undergone a qualitative change. They are too vast and heavy."
"The Gates of Hell has its carrying limits and rule restrictions. It would be almost impossible for an existence like us to pass through alive."
"Forcing the issue could very well cause the passage to collapse, or trigger unpredictable space-time disasters."
Setsuna rubbed his chin. "You were worried earlier that Hyosube Ichibe'e could summon the Five Noble Ancestors back from Hell to Soul Society."
"That means you believe he likely possesses a more advanced passage or method of connecting to Hell that can transcend the soul limitations?"
Yamamoto nodded, his expression solemn. "As the 'eye' left behind in Soul Society by the Five Noble Ancestors themselves to guard the Soul King and monitor the balance, he must have been granted corresponding authority and means."
"I speculate that he very likely possesses some kind of cross-dimensional method different from the ordinary Gates of Hell."
"Otherwise, how could he ensure communication with the ancestors in Hell when necessary, or even carry out their will?"
"Then it's simple." Setsuna clapped his hands, an eager smile appears on his face.
"Since he has a way to send people in, I will step by step test him, force him to make a move against me, and make him exile me into Hell!"
Yamamoto's frown deepened. His tone carried a warning:
"Do not underestimate him. He has lived for a million years. His Reiatsu must surely be even stronger than mine. You must know, in our fight just now, I did not use Bankai."
Setsuna smiled slightly. "Do you think I cannot use Bankai either?"
Yamamoto's spirits lifted. "You can also use Bankai? What is the ability of your Bankai?"
Setsuna, however, was being secretive. He only smiled mysteriously. "I can only tell you that in my Bankai state, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to kill me!"
This confidence bordered on arrogant, but what Yamamoto saw in Setsuna's eyes was not bravado, but a certainty based on his understanding of the essence of his own power.
"It seems you have hidden even more than I imagined." Yamamoto smiled, then asked another question.
"But what if my speculation is wrong, and he actually has no way to send you into Hell?"
Setsuna spread his hands. "Then it's simple. Since he can't send me in, he most likely also cannot pull anyone out of Hell. We'll join forces and kill him."
Yamamoto fell silent. He found that he had still underestimated Setsuna's decisiveness and ability to act.
'This young man's thought pattern was extremely direct: if there's a path, take it… if there's no path, open one… if something blocks the path, remove it.'
'The goal is clear. The means are unscrupulous. And he has near absolute confidence in his own power.'
"It seems I really am old." Yamamoto sighed. "How do you plan to step by step test him?"
"First, of course, is to uproot the Kasumioji Clan!" Setsuna said lightly.
"You just tell the outside world that we fought to a standstill and you couldn't stop me."
"Agreed." This time, Yamamoto agreed very readily.
His disciple had died in the Kasumioji Clan's scheme. If not for the overall situation, he would have wanted to take action himself long ago.