35 Part 33 - Changes

Ichibe had returned to earth. He was now in his room in Kamar-Taj. The first thing he wanted to do, was meet the Ancient One. After almost two years, he wanted to talk to her. She had become a good friend of Ichibe and was, other than his captains, the only human that knew his name and could say it as well. (should I have accidentally made a mistake here, I apologize)

So, he trusted her, and she trusted him.

Ichibe walked through the corridors and greeted a lot of masters that he knew and knew him. He got on a lot of people's nerves here, but they knew he didn't mean ill and was just playing around.

His questions, which caused a lot of masters to refuse to teach him, became very important questions. And sometimes they were asked in tests for graduating apprentices.

Ichibe found the Ancient One sitting at the edge of the training field. She was drinking tea and enjoying the sun that shone down on the place.

"Oh, Ichibe. So, you finally grace us with your presence again? How nice."

"How are you doing Yue? It's been a while indeed."

"Well I'm well but how are you? You told me that you had to visit another planet for a time and then you disappeared for two years.", the Ancient One seemed a bit annoyed.

Ichibe laughed at her display of annoyance.

"Sorry about that. It took longer than expected."

"I assume you were training again. Did you have a fruitful time at least?"

"Yes, it was nice. I wasn't only training though. I also visited other planets and got to see other civilizations. I didn't interact with them though and only observed from afar."

"I see. Well, as long as you didn't cause any trouble and enjoyed your time, it's all good.

What are your plans then? Are you going to see the Gotei 13?"

"Yeah, that was the plan. I'm just about to get to creating the technique and since I was away for a while, I thought it might be a good idea to see how everything is going."

"A good idea. You must show me the product when you finish it. I'm interested to see what technique would take you this long. It must be a ridiculous one."

"Haha, well it's quite ridiculous. The hardest thing was to find a way to get from theory to the practical part. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to create it, but now I know how."

After this, Ichibe left Kamar-Taj again and went to the headquarters of the Gotei 13 in China. It had been two years since he'd been here. Many things had changed, and he was eager to see what.

.

Ichibe opened a portal into the office of Píng'ān. She was just in a meeting with her lieutenant. The lieutenant was surprised for a moment when he saw a portal appear in the room and took a defensive stance.

Píng'ān however, told him not to worry. There was only one person who could enter her room like that and that was the Head Captain himself.

Ichibe walked through the portal and stood in front of the duo and smiled. Píng'ān smiled as well. She was happy to finally see him again. She and the other captains knew where he was and therefore weren't worried, but it was still good to see him in person after two years.

"Welcome back Head Captain. I'm glad to see you in good health."

"Haha, yes. Sorry that it took so long but there was just nothing I could do about it. I'm just about to enter the final stages of my training and thought I'd visit and see how everything is going.

Do you have any problems at the moment or something special going on?"

"There are a few things that are going on right now, but nothing that needs your immediate attention. I'm glad to explain it to you though."

"Good. Let's get to it then."

"Lei Fang, if you would.", Píng'ān addressed her lieutenant.

"Yes, captain. Head Captain in the last two years that you have been absent, there have been a few things that happened.

First, we noticed that the Hand have started to move again. It started a bit over a year ago. They are doing reconnaissance missions in our territories and they are very subtle.

We wouldn't have noticed if Captain Píng'ān hadn't told third-seat Raven, to scout one of their bases for practice. We found some of their plans that concerned our territories and then monitored them more closely.

It would seem that they are preparing for some form of counterattack or takeover of our areas. As we have no real information about their plans and their organization as a whole, the captains decided to send in third-seat Raven to find out more.

She has unlocked her Zanpakuto's Shikai and using it, she can do marvellous infiltration work and information gathering.

Other than the Hand, we have been keeping an eye on the organisation known as SHIELD. They have a massive network and were close to discovering something about the Gotei 13 at one point.

But thanks to the quick thinking and work of Captain Lè Yáng, we were able to avoid being discovered and have led them to another group in Russia, the Red Room.

Other than that, the Gotei 13 have made good progress in securing their territories and keeping the peace. There is no black market or any shady business. We make sure to undermine and destroy those immediately.

Our information network has progressed very nicely and we have a firm grip on the government, should we need it."

Ichibe was in thought. That was indeed good progress. The small detail about their development wasn't something that would concern him at the moment. The Hand was more interesting right now.

Their pride wouldn't allow them to simply take their defeat at the hands of the Gotei 13. Ichibe knew this for a long time, but he didn't think that they would start this early.

There had to be something he didn't know about them, that gave them their confidence, or they were just getting desperate. He wasn't sure what it was.

But sending in Raven was a good idea. Let's see what she finds out.