Rukia looked at the item, then at Kisuke Urahara’s merchant-like face, gritted her teeth, and took it.
“…Thank you.” She squeezed out two words through clenched teeth, then turned and quickly left the shop.
With Rukia’s departure, silence once again returned to the room.
The smile on Kisuke Urahara’s face slowly receded, and his eyes, which had always been narrowed, quietly opened wider.
He slowly turned his head to look at Sasuke, who had not spoken a word the entire time, and his fan snapped shut with a’swish’.
“So…”
He resumed his characteristic smile, his tone somewhat meaningful.
“This customer, what can I do for you?
You don’t seem to have followed her out of concern for Miss Kuchiki.”
Sasuke stepped out of the shadows by the wall, walked directly to the tatami mat, sat down cross-legged, and met Urahara’s gaze calmly.
No beating around the bush.
“I’m here to ask you something.”
Sasuke’s voice was flat, but the respect in his tone was not hard to miss, “Urahara Shopkeeper, I want to ask, do you know the method for crossing boundaries?”
Upon hearing this, Kisuke Urahara lightly tapped his palm with his fan and, with a smile, asked in return: “Oh, what does the young man mean?
Are you saying you want to return to Soul Society?
Although it’s a bit troublesome, there are ways, you know.”
“No.” Sasuke shook his head decisively, “The place I want to go is not Soul Society.”
“Not Soul Society?”
Urahara’s smile grew wider.
He feigned surprise, opening his mouth slightly, “Then could it be Hueco Mundo?
Oh dear, that place is not a good destination.
It’s full of hungry Hollows and very dangerous.”
“But, I do know some methods, it’s just that the price might be…”
“It’s not Hueco Mundo either.” Sasuke directly interrupted him, then paused for a moment, as if weighing how much information to reveal.
“Just recently, I unexpectedly went to a completely unfamiliar world.”
Uchiha Sasuke slowly said, “A world that belongs neither to the Dangai, Soul Society, nor Hueco Mundo or Hell—another world.”
“Oh?” Kisuke Urahara’s fan stopped, and his eyes, which had always been half-closed, opened wide.
“Another world?”
He leaned forward slightly, his tone a bit urgent, “What was it like there, and how did you determine it was another world?”
Sasuke looked at him like this, knowing he had successfully piqued the man’s interest.
He didn’t continue to answer the question, but slowly raised his right hand and began to form hand Seals.
It was a series of hand gestures Kisuke Urahara had never seen before, nor did it belong to any Kido incantation stance.
“This is…” Urahara’s gaze instantly became focused.
“Bang!”
Accompanied by a puff of white smoke, Sasuke’s figure disappeared from his spot, replaced by Rukia Kuchiki, who had just left.
She was wearing the shinigami uniform she had on before entering the gigai, but with a hint of Sasuke’s characteristic arrogance on her face.
“An illusion?”
Kisuke Urahara’s gaze sharpened, but he immediately noticed something was off.
“No, the Spiritual Pressure is completely simulated, even the subtle details are perfectly mimicked…”
In this regard, it’s quite similar to the Modified Souls.
The Modified Souls refers to the modified Souls created by Kisuke Urahara, possessing the ability to transform into anyone and even gain some of the transformed person’s abilities.
Before he could finish his analysis, an even more astonishing scene unfolded.
The “Rukia” that Sasuke had transformed into formed a different hand Seal with both hands again.
“Bang!” “Bang!”
Two more puffs of white smoke, and two identical “Rukia” appeared beside her.
The three Rukia tilted their heads simultaneously, looking at Kisuke Urahara with a scrutinizing gaze.
Kisuke Urahara stood up completely.
He quickly walked in front of one of the Clones, a barely suppressed excitement on his face, and extended his cane to carefully poke “Rukia’s” face.
The cane conveyed a real touch.
“…It’s a Clone with a physical body!”
Kisuke Urahara’s breathing became somewhat rapid.
“Moreover, the energy that forms this body is not spiritual power; it’s another type of energy I’ve never seen before!”
He sharply turned his head, looking at the “Rukia” that Sasuke’s main body had transformed into, his eyes gleaming with fervent light.
“Interesting, too interesting!”
He opened his fan, excitedly fanning himself in front of him, “Another kind of power, and another world.
Oh my, this is simply incredible!”
The white smoke dispersed, the Clones disappeared, and Sasuke reverted to his original appearance, sitting there calmly.
He looked at the flushed Kisuke Urahara before him and spoke faintly: “Now, do you believe what I said?”
“Believe it, of course I believe it!”
Kisuke Urahara snapped his fan shut with a’swish’, quickly walked back to his position, and sat down again.
He leaned forward slightly, his tone urgent: “Young man, could you elaborate?
How did you go to that world?
And how did you come back?”
Sasuke’s tone was very calm, as if stating something unrelated to himself: “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Kisuke Urahara was stunned for a moment.
“Mm.” Sasuke nodded, beginning to recall, “The first time I went, it was recently.
I slew a Hollow, and then a voice appeared in my mind.”
“A voice?”
Urahara’s eyes sharpened, “What kind of voice?”
Sasuke’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, as if recalling an unpleasant sensation.
“A cold, resentful voice, constantly urging me to unleash the hatred within me.”
He paused for a moment, then continued: “Just after that voice sounded, the world before my eyes suddenly began to distort, and then I lost consciousness.
When I woke up again, I was in that world.”
Kisuke Urahara rested his fan against his chin, deep in thought.
Slaying a Hollow, a voice deep within, and a forced world transfer.
“And how did you come back?” Urahara pressed, “Did you hear that voice when you returned too?”
“No.” Sasuke shook his head, “This return was also very sudden.”
He began to recall the scene in Naruto’s mental world not long ago.
“At that time, I was in someone’s inner world, confronting a gigantic sealed energy body.”
“After I used my sword to break part of the Seal, causing energy to leak and collide with that energy, I returned.”
Kisuke Urahara keenly caught the key point: “You mean, in that world, you entered someone else’s Soul?”
“That’s one way to put it.” Sasuke was concise.
“Ha…” Kisuke Urahara let out a long breath, then couldn’t help but chuckle softly, his shoulders shaking slightly, “It’s truly more wonderful than I could have imagined.”
He slowly lowered his fan, his eyes gleaming with inquisitive light.
He looked at Sasuke, his tone very serious.
“Uchiha Sasuke, right?”
He accurately spoke Sasuke’s full name.
“To solve this mystery, and to find a way for you to return, could I ask a favor of you?”
…..