Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-27449779-20151222131224/@comment-26269901-20151223172241

Salubri wrote: Well thats the thing he said and she said isnt worth anything unless you can trace it back to a source based on the actual content. To my knowledge there isnt anything that says when he died. What we do have is the comment Rangiku made and a certain circumstances that point to my previous assertion. We dont really know what the deal is with the Shibas as you mentioned and there maybe more going on then we know. Having lost their noble position means they lost status but not the capacity to be helpful there is no indication of them being shunned in society. Even considering that Urahara is a escaped fugitive the Gotei 13 still uses his services as well. So theres that. That's why I pointed out I have no proof, just memory of what others said, believing they might be more knowledgeable than me, since they were so certain in their claims. Kinda hard to keep track of everything and where it can be found on your own.

With Urahara... is it possible he wasn't using official channels, but rather their black market? At least until he proved helpful later on. In that way he wasn't really working with shinigami officially, but rather those who were hiding stuff (like Rukia was hiding her sharing powers with Ichigo). Would explain how he got his hands on Kon.