Crows x Souls

[QuackVader]

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Itachi Uchiha.

During his sham of a life, the name Itachi Uchiha, other than the dead giveaway to his ancestral lineage, was a name that resounded throughout the ninja world of the Elemental Nations for one thing, and it wasn't because he possessed the fabled dojutsu, the Sharingan, or his terrifying genjutsu.

What carried his name far and wide was the source of his only regret and his greatest heroic act – He massacred his entire clan – from his parents to the aged elders, and down further to the crawling children – save only his younger brother.

If anyone ever asked, Itachi would say that the reason he carried that mission out was out of love. A love that put his village before his clan, family and lover.

It was for this same love that made Itachi Uchiha force his last living family to a path of revenge and power at the tender age of seven.

What tainted love would make a brother to psychologically manipulate his brother of seven years to make his only goal in life an ardent dedication of killing his own elder brother?

Who knew love could ever be this warped?

…..

Looking at the fading form of a grown and powerful Sasuke after he released the Edo Tensei, Itachi feeling like he had finally achieved peace in death and was finally free of the ugliness of the human world, closed his eyes and let his soul drift into nothingness, or hell. Any one that was open to a sinner like him.

He felt the sensation of his spiritual form breaking down into dust particles but paid no attention to it.

After a whole lifetime of living under orders and duty, duties that still got to him even after he died and ended up bringing him back to the world of the living which he finally completed moments ago, all Itachi Uchiha felt upon his final death was a cold serenity.

He didn't care of the mysteries of the afterlife or if his soul would suffer eternal damnation, all he wanted was to close his weary eyes and drift off to an eternal sleep. And sleep he did.

…. But not for the eternity he sought.

…..

After slumbering for a time he knew not of how long, his consciousness was roused up by the bright peering light of the sun that seemed to be shining directly on his face.

Sitting himself up, Itachi saw that he had been lying on a grassy plain in the middle of nowhere with no recollection of how he got there.

"Is this… The afterlife?" He muttered.

He clearly remembered his soul-link to the human world being severed as soon as he undid the Edo Tensei, and even when his body faded away to nothingness.

"This is the afterlife." This time he said with a level of sureness in his words.

The only thing he had on him was a basic yukata and pants; nothing from his life as a ninja crossed over with him, not even a kunai or wire, something he was rather glad about.

Other than the slight discomfort he felt upon waking up, he was completely fine. Neither his blindness or the sickness he had during the latter end of his life were present.

Walking past the grassy plains into the surrounding forest, Itachi aimlessly walked around, not at all in a rush like he had been all his life.

"Sasuke…" His worried thoughts wandered to his brother, the last Uchiha, hoping his younger brother would finally give up on the path of revenge he had put him on, ever since that fateful night…

He shook his head slowly, knowing that even if Sasuke strayed too far down the wrong path, he had someone who would be there to pull him out. Someone who was more of a brother to Sasuke than Itachi Uchiha ever was.

"Whether it's Sasuke or the Leaf, they will be fine…" Worrying about his brother or the village after his death would do no one any good, least of all him, so he tried not thinking about it.

But then another thought plagued him: if this really was the afterlife, what would happen if he came across his former clansmen, the very same one he slaughtered?

If an underworld of fire and torture are the only things that awaits him at the end of these dense trees, he'll gladly accept it if it meant an atonement for his sins.

However for Itachi, all the solemn thoughts that had been pushing through his mind calm to a slow grinding halt as he exited the trees and his eyes immediately caught sight of what looked like a mini-village off in the distance - a complete human-looking settlement.

Not knowing what to expect and what not to, he went in its direction and it was only when he came closer that a clearer picture appeared before him.

No doubt, this was a human settlement through and through. An impoverished one to boot.

Despite his confusion, Itachi's eyes surveyed the people on the village's outskirts as he drew closer; it wasn't that he wanted to, but old habits die hard.

Other than sparing him a few glances, some longer than others, everyone kept to their circle and didn't bother Itachi as he entered the village, having more questions now than ever.

Even if he loved and hated that part of him, his experience as a ninja was still fresh in mind, even after sleeping for who knows how long, enabling him to perfectly blend his mannerisms and gait as if he was familiar with his surroundings.

However, even after spending over an hour walking around, he didn't get much except that this place was called Rukongai, one of its districts at least, concerns for the coming winter and a few other unimportant things.

As he couldn't get anything good and informative after walking around, Itachi decided to ask one of the group of children playing around.

"Are you a new soul in the Rukongai?" That was the first reply Itachi got, and from the implication of those words, he had to deeply consider if this was really the afterlife or not.
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"Oh, I see. You must've died recently and just came over from the World of the Living, but yeah. This is the afterlife, or rather District 69th​, North Rukongai, Soul Society."

Itachi didn't know what to think, no, rather he didn't know how to accept this foreign concept that went over everything he ever knew.

Basically, the afterlife, based on what this old man just told him, was no different than the human world. The only thing that distinguished the human world and the afterlife was how long they lived. The distinction between body and soul was pretty much the same as being basic to their own respective worlds.

"… Is there a way I-"

"To look for your family?" The man cut him off but Itachi didn't express any surprise and just nodded while the man only shook his head. "New souls coming to the Rukongai ask that a lot, but all I can say is to give up. This world can be said to be endless with how big it is that you might not even find a single person you knew when alive even after spending a hundred years here."

The old man looked at Itachi and saw that the young man didn't look sad or downcast by that. In fact, he couldn't say anything about Itachi's looks as not once did his facial expressions change over their conversation.

"What about the peculiarities of the afterlife?" Itachi asked, putting the issue of meeting his family to the side for now as the information was more important.

"Peculiarities? Well, there's the Seireitei where the nobles and Shinigami live. And then you have the hollows – evil monsters that go around killing and eating anyone they see. We have the Shinigamis for stopping these attacks anytime it happens."

Itachi sat in silence, mulling his thoughts and the likely scenarios where he could put this information to use, but he forcefully stopped himself after remembering that he was no longer a rogue nin, or a ninja in general.

This was the afterlife, or Soul Society as it was apparently called, and the last thing he wanted was leaving life the same way he did back in the Elemental Nations.

"That will be all for now, thank you." He stood up and thanked the man and was about to leave when they called him back.

"Do you have anywhere to go, or are you going to continue wandering the Soul Society?" The man asked half-serious and half-joking but the reply he got surprised him a bit.

"I've been a wanderer most of my life. I think I can manage." After thanking the man again, Itachi was gone. Leaving the man the same way they met – complete strangers.

…..

He could have stayed if he wanted, even the old man was about suggesting the same thing, but he didn't.

He didn't have any good reason for deciding to leave but something told him that he had to keep moving until he had nowhere to go, and that was what he did.

He didn't plan on going to the Seireitei as the man had told him that only nobles and Shinigamis had the right to live there, and he was none.

 

[QuackVader]

THWACK!

The stone continued on its path until it met the bark of the eighth tree and only succeeded in making its way halfway inside it, not through it.

The perpetrator, Itachi, was standing horizontally on a tree with a few rock pebbles in his hand that he threw at the trees while noting their driving force and speed.

Unfortunately, while he had figured out a circulatory pathway for the new flow, he couldn't use it to replicate any jutsu.

One thing he also figured out was that while this new flow felt lighter than Chakra, average density-wise, it was more volatile than chakra. Hence the pebbles.

He could only take the slow route of trial and error as there was no available precedent for him.

He had been slightly happy, for a very brief moment, when he figured out the flow only for his mood to plummet when he found himself still yet unable to use his eyes.

With how monotonous his days have been since he arrived here, Itachi, on more than one occasion, found himself forcefully pulling himself out of whatever training trance he was about to submerge himself in.

With almost two weeks since he arrived in the Soul Society, he'd noted almost all the key differences and similarities between his former chakra flow and the new one.

He could do the Body Flicker jutsu no problem, but he was yet to be able to weave a single jutsu.

"Chakra works in tangent to the dual polarities of body and spirit, and also those of the elements. But this flow feels like it doesn't follow any of that."

His days were filled with him mumbling and pondering to himself until he snaps out of it.

"I should start moving on." And like that he wandered further in an unknown direction. At the very least, he was relieved that the flow helped increase his speed and overall physical attribute just like chakra did.

Continuing at the same pace, never staying in one place for too long, Itachi Uchiha spent his first month in the Soul Society as a wandering lost soul.

…….

Inside a cave, Itachi was sleeping when his eyes immediately snapped open as the group transmitted slight tremors to his body.

A sign that there was either a huge fight off to the distance, a herd of animals were stampeding or some type of natural disaster.

As soon as he made his choice to check out what it was, his body flickered in a blur and he was gone.

He ran through the shades and darker parts of the dense forest to prevent anyone from noticing his incoming.

Seeing how the ground zero for what was apparently a battle was still a good distance ahead, Itachi reasoned that the battle must be an explosive one given how far the tremors traveled.

As he got closer, he noted that the large tremors had all but ceased which meant that the battle was likely at its end.

He slowed down and hid himself at a vantage point and watched the end of the battle.

The most eye-catching thing he saw was the ten-legged giant crab monster that was fighting against a group of twenty or so warriors, including the dead bodies scattered around, all garbed in black kimonos and armed with swords.

Itachi watched on as they cut off the last legs of the monster crab while two of them used its period of anguish to pierce their blades through the bony mask that covered its face.

Itachi noted their formations, what remained of it, the fighting styles they all used - all of them except two people and they were the only ones with different bladed weapons from the katana everybody else seemed to use.

Listening to what they were saying, Itachi confirmed that they were part of some 7th​ Division military… and Shinigamis.

'They are not what I expected them to be.' Was Itachi's honest reaction to the fabled death gods, but then again appearances were the most deceiving, reality even more so - he would know.

The crab monster faded away moments after it was killed so the remaining Shinigamis started wrapping up the dead bodies of their fallen comrades.

While all this was happening, Itachi stealthily made his way closer to the battlefield to see if there were any smaller yet important information to note about the Shinigamis of Seireitei.

He was lucky enough to snag one of the katanas of a Shinigami that had half of his body blown into the forest.

Just as silent and unnoticed as he came, so he went with not one person from the group sensing him. He'd have had to notch up their perception by a few marks higher if they had noticed him.

He'd have preferred a tanto or a kunai to a sword but his options were severely limited… always have been.

He sighed and laid back down to sleep with the sword by his side.

The next day, due to the presence of what he finally identified as a hollow and the Shinigamis, fighting around where he had been staying for a few days now, Itachi moved away from the site and continued his wandering once more. This time with a sheathed blade strapped to his waist and covered under the cloak he wore.

Times like these are when he most times finds himself thinking back to his life. Wondering if there were things that could have been but weren't, choices that could have been made but weren't.

He'd sometimes stop his wandering to train or do something that'll take his mind off from thinking too deeply about fairytales.

It was during one of these stops of his that he finally noticed that there was something odd about the sword.

The sword or whatever it was made of was a very natural conductor of the flow inside his body that he didn't know when the sword automatically added itself to his flow pathway. With how perceptive he was to his own body and energy, it was impossible for him to miss it.

Unfortunately, he could only feel it, not being able to see or analyze it because of the absence of his eyes.

Apart from a faint sense of rejection he used to feel from the sword when he had swung it to train for the first time, now there are hardly any 'blocks' from the sword whenever he swung it.

The things he had been learning since his arrival on this afterlife named Soul Society; from the corrupt and poor human life conditions in the Rukongai, his new pathway flow, the evil spirits – hollows –, the protecting Shinigamis, even down to this sword, was one heap of confounding questions and mysteries, each one after the other.

 

[QuackVader]

Time passed for Itachi who had finally decided to slow down his pace after the fact that he'll likely be here for centuries hammered itself into his head after conversing with the locals of the small settlements he came across every once in a while.

Seeing children and teenagers of more than fifty years scattered around everywhere, and adults with age usually ranging from a century and upward, the oldest he's seen being over 300, Itachi had to accept that he had nowhere to hurry to and slowed his wandering to a casual pace, sometimes even staying a few weeks to a month on one spot before moving onwards.

After his discovery of the sword, Itachi refrained from using it as much as he could. He would have thrown it away except that he had no other weapon on him. Limited by his choices once more.

He had no idea if the sword was a cursed weapon, or one that bonded with its wielder by consuming their energy just like Kisame's Samehada. With his lack of knowledge and lack of his eyes, he limited how much he wielded the blade and cut the flow of energy from his body to the sword just to see how it would react but nothing happened. Not even when he practically left the sword in his sheath for over a month.

Right now, Itachi sat on the bank of a river with one hand over his left eye as he stared at his reflection.

His appearance was the same, similarly was his body mass and muscle structure identical to his body when he was still alive.

Apart from his eye that should be gone after using Izanami, everything was just as it used to be, except for his inability to open the sharingan.

With the absence of chakra, he had long surmised that this new energy was the reason why he couldn't use any ninjutsu or his dojutsu.

Itachi was smart, terrifyingly so, but trying to use an entirely new and foreign form of energy as a substitute for chakra to cast ninjutsu was something out of his area of expertise. This was more of Orochimaru's field than his.

Simply put, chakra was the energy of the world - life energy - but right now he was dead. He had once thought this energy was yin based due to him being dead but that too turned out to be wrong.

He looked at the sword by his side with a slight frown on his face.

Honestly, he considered stopping his pointless wandering and integrate back into society but he had heard numerous times of settlements and villages being attacked by hollows who feed on souls, and though most of these attacks were promptly taken care of by the Shinigamis stationed in different posts throughout the Rukongai, sometimes the Shinigamis arrive late to find a destroyed village.

If not for that constant worry, he'd have settled down months ago, which was why he kept trying to remove the veil covering his eyes as he was severely limited without access to it and his jutsus.

"I really hope that I'm not being too paranoid about this." He said and strapped the sword to his waist before throwing his cloak over his body.

"Maybe I can use the sword as a crutch in learning how to use this new flow. The sword seems to run on it, so hopefully…"

…..

"I'd advice you turn back, man. Heard those damned Shinigamis are chasing down a Hollow." Itachi came across a small group of people, all of whom told him the same thing.

"Can you point me in the general direction?" He asked the man who was now giving him a weird look.

"Ya deaf, man? You shouldn't be asking for general directions to the eye of a disaster." The man said, almost shouting at the end of it as he saw how itachi's face remained inexpressive even after everything he told him.

"You don't have to worry about me, but I'll appreciate it if you point me in the general direction." Itachi politely asked.

"Stray off the path to your left at the crossroad up ahead and continue on. You'll come across it in an hour or two depending on how fast you travel. Knock yourself out, man."

The man left in a hurry to catch up with his group up ahead.

'Let's see if there is any importance to this sword.' He flickered towards the direction the man described and it only took him a few minutes to pick up the trace of a battle.

He followed the trails and got to where the battle was most likely fought before the hollow escaped.

Unlike the first battle he saw, this one was a lot more different because he could feel how densely this place was filled with the energy he was having problems with.

'Obviously they can harness it, but this feels somehow different. An element or attribute perhaps?' He pondered as he studied all the irregularities scattered everywhere around the place.

'Explosions and sword marks, but mostly explosions.'

The site was filled with blast marks and craters of different proportions. Some places were molten glass, some places looked like something small and very heavy was dropped there. Some looked as if someone sliced open the ground.

The scene before him was eerily similar to that of where shinobis fought.

'Different abilities. Not a single projectile weapon. Different attributes and elemental discharges.' He disappeared from the place after he committed the details of the battlefield to memory.

As far as he knew after inquiring from a lot of locals, all Shinigamis carried swords. Every single one of them.

It is simply stupid and inefficient for different divisions, if not all of them, of any military to use only one type of weapon, but since the Shinigamis do, it means the sword is a lot more than a crutch than Itachi initially thought it was, and more like the basis of their strength.

'But why only swords? Even those two from months ago used swords, albeit with different shapes and aesthetics.'

An answer started taking shape in Itachi's head as he trailed the prints the Shinigamis left behind, and noted another thing of importance.

'The few footprints barely visible are too far apart and not uniform. They are fast.'

The conclusion so far: this group was far stronger than the ones Itachi had met months ago.

 

[QuackVader]

"Ikkaku, there's still one missing. It's reiatsu spiked a few kilometers east from here." Someone called out to the angry bald man, Ikkaku, who furiously stomped on the ground.

"Damn it! Why are these things so slippery today? We have to kill them fast or else Captain Zaraki will cut off our ears. Lead the way, Yumichika." Ikkaku said to his friend with urgency.

Not wasting anymore time, the rest of Squad 11 followed after Yumichika towards the last place the Hollow's reiatsu was registered.

This time around, they were hunting down four Hollows and while it was a relatively easy thing with their numbers and strength, this group of Hollows immediately turned tail as soon as they saw one of theirs almost being killed. Well the Hollow did die, but the thing was that the other Hollows ran away before they even killed the one they left behind.

"Oh, I'll personally kill that slippery bastard." Ikkaku grinned menacingly as they got nearer and he could feel the Hollow's faint reiatsu.

Yumichika, who was beside him, frowned a little. "Just try and keep an eye on him this time. We are chasing this one for the second time because you taunted it instead of instantly killing it."

The group of Shinigamis behind them laughed at Ikkaku's slip up, angering the bald man even further.

"Ahhhhh! Come here you bastard!" Ikkaku lost it and rushed forward as soon as he locked in on the Hollow's reiatsu. "Die!"

...

Itachi silently followed the group of Shinigamis from a good distance behind after getting their general direction.

He had been able to watch how they fight and so far, only three people stood out from this group.

The bald one, Ikkaku, was most likely the strongest with how he carried the greatest momentum and how he seemed to be higher ranked than the others who called him the 3rd Seat.

The second would be the one with the colorful feathers on his eyelashes, Yumichika, the 5th Seat.

From what Itachi saw, he didn't do much but his speed and reflexes didn't lose that much to Ikkaku with how relatively calm he looked during the whole fight.

The last person, Makizo, wasn't that much impressive strength-wise but what drew Itachi's attention to him was his sword, or rather what it became after the man chanted a few words.

While it still remained a sword, it was no longer a katana. It was now a normal longsword with one of its edges being red, and it released an explosion every time the sword's red edge struck something.

As they hunted the last Hollow, the group maintained a circle around Ikkaku and the Hollow where Itachi could comprehensively note the man's abilities.

His durability was very noticeable given how he got hit a few times and shrugged it off with only a few bruises as he slowly tortured the Hollow to death.

He could clearly have killed the Hollow much quicker but it seemed like he wanted to enjoy the battle while also torturing the monster.

"That's the last of them, Ikkaku. We should get going or else the Captain might just storm out to find us for taking so long, thinking it's a strong Hollow." With Yumichika's reminder stopped Ikkaku's fit and without wasting any more time, they left.

After they left, Itachi left too with more thoughts and questions about the sword on his hip.

He had only picked it up because he figured it'd be better to have a weapon on hand than not, not knowing that it would turn out to be something more.

His questions of the sword's nature was the reason he refrained from using it and letting his energy seep into it. His ignorance and cautiousness regarding this strange afterlife made him naturally skeptical and extremely analytical of everything he saw.

...

After meeting Ikkaku and his group, Itachi decided to be a little experimental with the sword and once more started letting the flow inside his body move into the sword.

Two weeks had passed since that day and though there were no changes with the sword, Itachi didn't worry. He'd expected it'll most likely take a long time before any changes showed on the sword.

As he was basically free everyday and rarely trained, except when his thoughts started acting up, most of his time was spent meditating, not because he wanted to but he realized that it made his flow travel into the sword in the best way possible.

Most times when he meditated, his thoughts were centered around the sword and the effects of the change it had on the user.

If he classified the sword's transformation as an advanced technique, that means that each transformation possibly gives a qualitative increase to one or more of the user's aspects, but the increase is relative to the user.

The reason why he considered it relative to the user was because even though the man named Makizo's sword changed and he obviously got a little stronger, he still felt that bald man and the one with the feathers on his eyelashes could still beat him.

So if Ikkaku were to use the same technique and his sword changed, he'd be vastly stronger than Makizo.

'Is it some type of strength multiplier?' He thought. The Sharingan also acted as a strength multiplier of sorts, at least that was one of its basic attributes.

He still had a lot of questions about the sword since he was basically going in blind and he had no idea if there was something else needed to influence the sword to change. He doubted just sharing his flow with the sword was everything he needed to do.

Not to mention that it might take months or Sage forbids, a few years, because as far as he knew each of those Shinigamis he saw were probably more than a hundred years old.

"I'll have to find a viable alternative in the meantime." He said as he looked at the sword. Or course he'll continue looking for a way to unlock his eyes, not just waiting for the sword to show a sign, any sign in particular.

Right now, not being with his eyes while he knew they were there slightly irritated Itachi. He was a seasoned fighter, with or without the Sharingan, but he knew just how limited he was without it.

 

[QuackVader]

"We are proud of you."



To Itachi, those words were akin to curses that continued haunting him even after a decade has passed since that fateful night where he drew his blade against his own family.



He had always believed he did it for the village, even till now, but that didn't mean it would stop the nightmares.



"I'll kill you, Itachi. Even if I have to die for it."



Those words to his ears as he sat there on the Clan Head's seat and gazed down on a grown up Sasuke hurt him so much that the words that left his mouth was –



"Then make it happen."



The last two brothers of a dead clan, one fighting to kill the other while the other fought all to complete his duty – at the end of it all, Itachi Uchiha was a great coward.



He owed Sasuke everything after he had taken everything the child ever knew and love from him and yet despite how regretful and crushed he was, he couldn't even properly apologize or confess with his words instead choosing to use his sick sense of recompense to further manipulate, force even, an innocent child to live his whole life with only one goal – to grow strong enough to kill him.



Even when reincarnated with the Forbidden Jutsu, he couldn't face Sasuke until the latter chased him down and even yet, he couldn't say what he wanted to say until the very last second – always hiding and running, stopping only when he finds an escape path.



Itachi Uchiha was the most exemplary and loyal ninja in the history of Hidden Villages, but most of all he was the greatest coward.



....



His eyes slowly flickered open and took in the image of his surroundings.



"Another nightmare." He held his hands over his eyes and sighed deeply and remained in that exact position for the next half hour before he decided to pick himself up and get started with his day.



Picking the sword, he strapped it to his waist and went to the nearby stream of water for a bath.



The cold water of the morning stream was a soothing feeling that helped in getting his chaotically beating heart to slow down.



"I deserve all of it, no questions." He muttered as he got out of the water.



It was this feeling of regret and self-hatred that he couldn't bring him to stay in any of the settlements he came across. That world was something he left behind when he accepted to massacre his clan for the village.



He rejected his family for the village when he was alive, so how could he accept them in death?



With the few pieces of clothing and strap bag he got from the settlements he came across as payment for a few odd jobs, Itachi's aimless wander continued one at a much slower pace.



Having nothing to do for weeks and months on end, Itachi spent most of his time on his sword or figuring out things about the new flow but he was yet to figure out how to use it just like he did with chakra.



In the afternoon, he went into the settlement nearest to him at a 10km distance from him which wasn't much of a distance to him.



"Oh Itachi, you're still around I see." One of the elderly men he helped during his earlier visits called him and Itachi nodded at him.



"Good day, Kanzaki-san."



"Hahaha, upright youngsters like you are hard to find even after death, so you're always a welcome surprise Itachi." The man smiled gently at him before Itachi walked away.



This was something he did every once in a while, every week or two, where he would go into the nearest settlements around him and keep a lookout for recent happenings.



'I guess the news about the recent upsurge of rampaging Hollows is finally affecting this place.' He noted to himself after observing a few huts now having new owners and the lack of familiar faces walking around at this time of the day.



Turning back, he went back to Kanzaki after exchanging two rabbits for a few sets of condiments.



"Kanzaki-san, I can't help but notice that some people are missing from the village. Is something happening?"



The man was already used to Itachi's less than expressive face after the first few times he had met him so he wasn't bothered by the slow monotone that Itachi spoke with.



"Ay, boy. Two small settlements like ours to the east have been run over by Hollows, forcing the Shinigamis to be especially active as of late." Kanzaki-san said. How could he even begin the relocation to another place if he wanted to?



"That close? Shouldn't Shinigamis be stationed at the nearest settlements given that's what the Hollows are going for?" Itachi asked but Kanzaki snorted derisively.



"How can we dictate what the Shinigami-samas can or should do?" He asked rhetorically.



"Until next time, Kanzaki-san." Before the man could finish his words, Itachi was already on his way out of the settlement to go home.



"East huh? That's where I'm supposed to travel to."



He wasn't that worried about coming across Hollows on his way if they were of the same strength level as the ones he saw the Shinigamis killing, anything else will be left to further observation.



With his cloak over his body, Itachi packed the few pieces of belonging he had on his strap bag and went along on his way.



Comprehending the basis of the Shinigamis were quite easy but what he had no idea of was Hollow and the specifics of their race given how all the ones he's seen looked different from each other.



There is only so much that distant observation can do and while he wouldn't go around trying to kill Hollows, it is entirely different if one were to show up in front of him.



"Every passing day causes me to doubt if this is truly the afterlife." Itachi mused absentmindedly.



Given how everyone he has met has no recollection of any of the Elemental Nations and the Hidden Villages or even in some cases ninjas, this 'Soul Society' felt more like a hidden dimension than anything else.



Having constructive conversations with himself, Itachi's days in the Soul Society kept on increasing as the rogue ninja searched for somewhere or something that would make his endless journey come to an end.

 

[QuackVader]

"Lieutenant Sarugaki. Every single Hollow has been killed." A Shinigami bowed his head and reported to a girl that looked too much like a child, standing at a very short height of 4'4 – Lieutenant Hiyori Sarugaki of the 12th Division.

"That bastard of a smug Captain. Does he think he's the only one with a pile of research to attend to? Making me come out to the field to investigate, how dare he!?" She shouted angrily at her absent Captain while the other Shinigamis present smartly kept their mouths shut.

After finishing her rant, Hiyori took a few calming breaths and regarded the rest of her squad with a seriousness that looked almost foreign on her in respect to how she had looked like a petulant child just moments prior.

"Triple check. It's almost suspicious given how Hollows seem to be appearing and disappearing all over the Soul Society." She said, "Someone radio HQ for a last sweep before we leave this area for good."

'Different settlements of the Rukongai are being attacked by Hollows and there's also been reports of souls inexplicably disappearing without their clothes.'

"Lieutenant Sarugaki, message from the Captain." Someone called out to her and pointed at the black butterfly hovering near her - a Jigokucho, or Hell Butterfly.

"Yes? Make it quick, will ya?" While everyone else would have been extremely respectful to the Division Captains, Hiyori had no respect for hers.

"Lieutenant Sarugaki, I want you and your squad to make haste to the settlement south of your current location." A calm and collected voice laced with a serious undertone came out of the butterfly.

Hearing her Captain's serious voice, Hiyori held her tongue and rogered the order. "Order received. No one falls behind!" She shouted and promptly disappeared, her squad following right after.

"What are we looking at?" She asked the butterfly perched on her shoulder.

"Either of two things or both; more vanished souls or a destroyed settlement." Came the eerily calm reply before the call ended and the butterfly disappeared into motes of light.

Hiyori clicked her tongue with a gnawing annoyance at how nonchalant the bastard sounded throughout the entire thing. 'Would it kill you to show some fucking remorse?'

Despite how fast Hiyori hurried, even leaving her squad a good distance behind, by the time she got to the little settlement, all she found was the rubble remains of destroyed houses and faint traces of vanished souls.

"Damn it!" She kicked a rock in anger at the last remaining house and brought it down in a crumbling mess.

"Scan the surrounding area for any lingering Reiatsu or traces of Hollow movement." She barked out and after a clean sweep, they continued on forward after finding nothing.

'Hollow Reiatsu!' She felt the faint wave of the corrupt Reiatsu that Hollows were made up of and hurried towards that direction, her squad following her every move.

...

[General POV: Itachi]

It was two days after his recent relocation which he spent most of it walking because he had no specific place to be or a timeframe to keep so he considered walking instead of running.

With only three hours of sleep due to the news about rampaging Hollows he heard from Kanzaki, Itachi spent most of his waking moment just walking, until this day when he heard it.

To keep a watch out, he resorted to staying awake all night and took an hour or two in the morning to sleep, even if he didn't need it.

It had been in the midst of his nap time when he heard a loud unearthly roar and picked up the wave of nauseous energy that came along with it.

He crossed the distance between him and the Hollow in seconds and his first act of observation saw a somewhat large group that looked like a family getting devoured by Hollows, seven Hollows to be precise.

Had it been Shinigamis, Itachi wouldn't have cared or bothered with it and just stayed to observe how they fought, but the people below were just civilians.

Even back in the Elemental Nations, squabbles and wars between ninjas were mostly done in ninja-centric territories.

"Take the ones alive and run. You can cry later." His voice jolted the two adult men who had horrified looks on their faces as they looked at the Hollows.

"Y-y-yes… Than-t-t… Kima!"

Itachi's pitch black eyes calmly collected the positions of the Hollows and their state, while also keeping an open tab on all that he knew about Hollows and those he was about to see.

The Hollows were already fully aware of his presence and all of them currently had their focus on him as he slowly and silently unsheathed his sword.

His first target was the Hollow holding the child named Kima and in a split second before anybody could blink, Itachi's form quickly flickered in one spot and Kima was now held behind him taking all of them by surprise, that was before one of the Hollows screamed as his entire arm slipped off its joint.

"Leave now." Itachi repeated and this time none of them lagged behind.

They called those that were still alive and bundled together before running away with the older ones carrying the children on their backs.

"Shinigami! Kill! Kill! Kill!" The one who was hurt shouted hysterically and incited the others and Itachi watched as they charged balls of energy so he quickly shifted his location so it wouldn't affect the fleeing family.

"Die! Die! Die!" They shot the charged attacks at Itachi who swiftly disappeared and appeared behind the first one he attacked, with his sword in an attack lime that went straight through its pale ash bone mask, effectively killing it in one stroke.

'Some can talk while others have limited speech. An evolution trait perhaps, which would mean that there are ranks to these things.' He noted down all their mannerisms on his tab on Hollows.

'High speed, energy blasts, regeneration and possible physical traits given how different they all look.'



The way Itachi calmly stared down the six remaining Hollows with those dull black eyes of his that looked like it held them in disdain greatly infuriated the Hollows that they all rushed at him to devour him.

 

[QuackVader]

'They are quite tenacious.' Itachi thought as he dodged the volleys of shell-like spikes shot by a Hollow with a carapace back.

Quickly noting his disadvantages, Itachi led the group of Hollows in the direct opposite direction from where the people had run in and thankfully they quickly followed, being blinded by rage.

'That worked too well, but these guys aren't as stupid when it comes to fighting.'

It came as a grim reminder to him that the Hollows actually outclassed him in every important aspect of battle save his speed and intelligence. He also had to be extra careful as he was well aware that receiving one of their attacks was akin to a death sentence to him.

With his apparent disadvantages, Itachi went for the basic battle tactics taught to every genin teams back for dealing with stronger or large groups of enemies.

Hit-and-run.

"Arghhhhhh!"

An oblivious Hollow, the third one so far, screeched in pain for a few seconds as it felt a blade slice through the nape of its neck, only for his screams to stop when he turned around in reflex only for Itachi's blade to slice through its mask, effectively ending his life.

Assassination missions were something any Uchiha worth his salt thrived in, exponentially so when it came to the prodigy that was Itachi.

With how efficient his energy control was and being able to use the Body Flicker technique, all it required was patience and he'd effectively dispatch this group of Hollows – and patience was something Itachi was intimately familiar with.

'Four left. It looks like they are no longer as frenzied as before.' Itachi saw as they slowed down their blind advance and cautiously looked around them, even blasting off those energy bombs of theirs to clear the dense forestation around them.

'If this continues, they will likely disappear. A much intended outcome.'

He wasn't interested in trying to kill them to the last one and would've preferred it if they pulled the same disappearing act they pulled on the Shinigamis.

'There's also a high possibility that the constant commotion will alert the Shinigamis.' Now this was something Itachi had to look out for.

The best outcome would be if they arrived and took the Hollows off his hands instead of him letting them retreat, while the worst would be if they surrounded him.

As far as he knew, the Shinigamis were the only fighting force and militia known to all residents of the Soul Society, something that made it easy for them to identify any opposition.

Dropping to the ground, Itachi sliced through a few trees that fell towards the smallest Hollow of the remaining group and as soon as their attention was drawn to it, he attacked the one on the left who had his back fully open to him.

However, as Itachi got to him, the Hollow quickly turned around with an energy bomb brewing in his mouth and shot it at Itachi whose eyes were slightly raised, but forcefully twisted himself midair and watched as the bomb flew dangerously close to his body and missed him by a hand's width.

Having missed his target who was trying to swat him away, Itachi's following actions flowed without any hesitation in his eyes.

SWISH! PUCHI!

His sword left his hand and pierced through one of the Hollow's eyes resulting in its shrill screams and haphazard movements as the others tried to attack Itachi.

'Guess my opening is here.'

It was sudden and took all the Hollows by surprise as they were suddenly sprang on by a group of Shinigamis led by a blonde haired girl.

Itachi, who had already sensed them coming when they came near, paid no attention to the new arrivals and went straight for his sword.

He was prepared to lose the sword as he figured he'd get another down the line but somehow that thought didn't look so comforting after he threw it away.

He was not a particular weapon user but he understood the sentiment of owning special weapons, as he too owned a few of them when he was alive.

Retrieving his sword from the Hollow that was easily taken care of by the blond haired girl, his steps didn't pause as he immediately disappeared.

"Hey, come back you punk!" He heard her shout but that was no longer a concern.

Instead his focus was on the blade he was currently looking at. "I guess it's not that surprising."

He had felt the slight thrum on the blade after he retrieved it and the way his energy seemed to now be in harmony with the sword at his side made him realize something important.

"I guess that means we're bonded now, don't it?" He asked and despite receiving any sort of signal from the sword, Itachi nodded in content because unlike before, he could now feel the blade.

And with it came a reassuring thought – it wouldn't be long before he got back his eyes.

……

Meanwhile, after Itachi retrieved his blade and swiftly retreated, Hiyori cursed and focused back on the two Hollows still alive.

"Lieutenant Sarugaki, these Hollows are troublesome!" One of her subordinates shouted, causing Hiyori to grit her teeth and jump back into battle.

The Hollows were strong, moderately so, she discovered, mostly the one with the carapace skin and its method of attack.

'We should be fine.' She thought and comforted herself with that thought.

As part of the Research Division, they weren't the most battle oriented division and this task would have been to another division to handle, but all divisions were ordered to step in due to the increased rate of Hollows appearing in the Soul Society and the mysteriously disappearing souls. Hence why her infuriating Captain sent her out to gather any data she could.

'Couldn't he have asked that freak Mayuri instead?' All her thoughts did was to anger her even more.

"Hadō #4: Byakurai." Following her short incantation, a sharp burst of lightning shot out from her outstretched hand and struck a Hollow and sent it flying.

Not letting up, she continued the flow with another short incantation. "Hadō #33: Sōkatsui."

A blast of blue flames crashed and exploded against the electrified Hollow and fully vanquished it.

"Lieutenant Sarugaki, who was that man stalling the Hollows? I don't think I got a feel of his Reiatsu." One of the Shinigami close to her asked after they finished their small battle.

"I don't know. He was very fast though and I couldn't get a good feel of his Reiatsu either." She said with a frown. She thought about it before shrugging and deciding to leave all the headaches to her Captain. He was the smart-ass after all.

 

[QuackVader]

Following his recent brush with the Shinigamis, Itachi quickly left the area and picked another direction to travel in, and this time he didn't move in leisure like he usually did.

Though he was unaware of it, the sheer size of the Soul Society made it a near impossibility to track just one person, more so someone like him who kept his presence to the barest minimum.

Having finally received a hint of progress from his sword, Itachi spent his free time on channeling his energy through the sword and looking for any other reaction it might have.

While the sword didn't show any other physical reaction since that day, the feeling Itachi was now getting from it was something that spurred him on greatly.

It felt as if he was on the cusp of discovering something and his attention were mostly on the sword, day in and day out, even through the night since he didn't require sleep.

Feeling like he had gotten a sufficient distance away from his previous location, Itachi slowed down after finding another place to crash behind a waterfall, and focused all of his time on his sword.

It was a new thing for him, never having done something like this when he was alive, but then again he had never been dead and never been to the afterlife, at least this version of it.

…….

Around the place where Itachi and Hiyori's group had fought against the Hollows, a man stood and calmly surveyed the area with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Blonde shaggy long hair framing a tired-looking lazy face, he wore the standard black shihakushō but with a white haori over it with the word '12' written in kanji at the back of it.

"Hiyori-chan was right. Low level Adjuchas, but Adjuchas nonetheless. They were lucky." He said, squinting his eyes in distaste at the implications of what this meant.

Adjuchas-level Hollows were entities that could even give the most skilled Vice Captains a death scare and while the ones they fought weren't at that level, the fact that droves of these types of Hollows were getting into the Soul Society through undetectable means was a worrying thing.

"Hai, Hiyori-chan, can you not give me more problems to think about?" He whined at his absent overly aggressive Vice Captain and how she just dumped everything at his feet.

It would have been best if they managed to get something more important from the stray Shinigami they encountered apart from 'a middle-aged bastard like you' that she reported.

"Just why did you choose to retire at such a time, Captain Hikifune?" He sighed in resentment.

If only the former Captain of the 12th Division, Kirio Hikifune, didn't choose to retire then he wouldn't be so swamped with work.

He took out a device from his sleeves and looked at it before sighing again as he silently left the area.

Kisuke Urahara, Captain of the 12th Division.

…..

Itachi sighed once again for the umpteenth time as he failed to grasp what was within his grasp.

Even now he could clearly feel it, a thrumming sensation from the sword, but it felt like he was missing something.

It wasn't with the sword, he knew that for sure. If anything, the sword was the more expectant party in the relationship between man and sword. He was the problem, Itachi realized.

It felt like the reason was because of something he was doing rather than something he wasn't.

Now the question remained; what was it that was so simple that Itachi was missing?

If it had been another soul with half of Itachi's talents and experience, they would have succeeded in what he was currently failing at.

"I guess I'm the one not making it easy for you. How ironic." He said.

He sheathed the sword to the strap on his waist and left it at that. He decided not to force it, knowing whatever the problem was would unravel itself very soon.

He had not come across anyone since that fateful day and that was a good thing for Itachi. The less people he met the better, lesser trail to follow that way.

While he was content with his life so far in the afterlife, the recent upsurge in Hollow activity worried him a bit.

He had seen a few empty settlements that had been attacked by Hollows and it was impossible that everyone escaped to safety before the Shinigamis arrived.

Basically he was conflicted, not because of the lacking sense of compassion he had, but because of the reason for his actions and lack thereof.

For most of his life, Itachi has been one to follow orders - a sense of duty instilled in him since his earlier days as a child in Danzo's Root.

Even when he became a rogue-nin, he still acted under orders of the very village that ordered him to eradicate his clan.

Like a chained puppet, Itachi has always been tied to his sense of duty and orders that even his death was carried out by a sense of duty to his dead clan and his brother.

And now, he was dead. Yet, still alive.

No orders. No duty. No obligation.

Only figuring out in his death that a life without any of these was vapid.

He had no longing for being someone's expendable tool. With no sense of servitude, the duty of picking up a weapon was lost to him and felt hollow. With such hollow thoughts on duty, his obligations to the helpless souls of the Soul Society, and inadvertently the Shinigamis, were nonexistent.

'So what then is the reason for life in death?' Itachi thought.

As someone brought up in war and strife, facing trials of blood since his tender age as a child and to his life living breath, Itachi had been a ninja.

All his life, however short it had been, was all about killing that he felt like an old man at the end of it.

He could still be considered a child when he died but his strength and experiences made him indistinguishable from the old veterans of his time.

"I guess… self-discovery."

'….Itachi.'

 

[QuackVader]

Itachi Uchiha had felt more free for the past few days than he had ever felt in his life, and that was something given who he was.

For the first time since he came here, Itachi had decided to just forget everything for some time and the result had been satisfying so far.

It was a spontaneous decision on his part and it felt as if he had cast a genjutsu upon himself, an illusion that covered his bleary reality. He knew it was a fleeting moment and that was why he enjoyed it.

He didn't think about getting back his Sharingan, nor did he think about his past life. His thoughts didn't wander to the reappearing Hollows or the Shinigamis, not to the defenseless souls or the sword now bound to him.

He was dead, no doubt about that. But what if his death was the beginning of his life? It was a thought that was constantly reoccurring.

He could never escape his past, he knew that, but it wasn't like he was still running from it. He was dead - where else could he run to?

But alas, all good things must come to an end.

Not even his strongest genjutsu could last for an eternity. They could last till death, but not eternity.

……

Itachi shielded his eyes from the bright rays of a sun that wasn't present - one of the wonders of this world.

"I hope you become a shorter blade soon." Itachi mused to himself and patted the sword hanging off his waist. He knew the sword could hear him, not sure how, but he knew.

It felt like a summoning animal that is always there, like an ever listening companion. For someone like Itachi who's ever had two companions and only one person he could ever talk to, he silently appreciated the sword's presence.

"I think I now understand why Kisame was so fond of Samehada." Though this one wasn't as unruly as the living sword, Itachi could see the similar tolerance he had his former teammate had for their unique weapon.

Right now, he was in the 62nd District of the Rukongai after randomly traveling for months since he arrived in the Soul Society.

Like everywhere else, all the places he's been to had all the problems he's seen when he was alive, minus the Hollows. Crime and poverty was the average life of the majority of the souls in Soul Society.

He's even had to dispatch a few groups of people trying to kill him or rob him but they were inconsequential. Passing nuisances at best.

One thing he had noticed however was how the Shinigamis adopted a hands-off policy when it came to the Rukongai. They weren't exactly a police force but more of a special military division that dealt with the Hollows.

Inadvertently, he started making him way deeper into the Soul Society not for any grand reason but just because of where the trails led him.

How else could he learn more about the world than learning about the crux of it?

He wasn't planning going against the Shinigamis or seeking out the Hollows as that would be plainly stupid, especially as handicapped as he was, but thankfully he specialized in infiltration and information gathering.

Since he had nothing to do other than wandering about, he figured it'd be best spent if he used it more efficiently by tackling his lack of knowledge.

And also, though he highly doubts it, he hoped he'd meet someone he once knew, a certain person coming to mind.

That aside, the lawlessness of the Rukongai, at least this part of it, was something he wasn't entirely familiar with, and as for changing it, it was physically impossible.

Itachi as a person was extremely logical and most, if not all of his decisions, were carried out after strenuous thinking and that equated both efficiency and resulting benefit to a straight line.

……

Just like the numerous settlements he's come across that were no different than the most dilapidated slums, Itachi silently passed through with no one aware of his presence.

He had no reason for doing this but he had made it a habit to check out any of the settlements he came across, either for battering an animal he hunted for a few things or to see if there was any news floating about.

The reason he made it a habit to do this was because of things like the one he was currently seeing.

With how poor the living conditions of the people in the North Districts was, most of them were very desperate, which forced them to do a lot of sick things.

Some of these things were, and not limited to, selling unfortunate new souls in slave trades to merchants and local rebel forces in exchange for goods and better living conditions, or even relocation to the better districts of the Rukongai.

And in this exact settlement, someone did the exact same thing, deceiving new arriving or lost souls and hosting them for a few days, only to later drug them for the buyers to have an easier time moving them.

It wasn't disgust, disdain, or any other passionate emotion that made Itachi interfere whenever he saw things like these - he had seen too many things like this during his life to be that emotionally driven - to him it was just taking care of a weed.

A simple action from his part, that even if he ignored, had no weight on his conscience.

After ending the life of the man, he tracked down the buyers and made swift work of them in seconds, freed the slaves and then left. All before a minute elapsed.

"Peace, huh? I wonder if Konoha achieved peace after the war? Did the village survive the war, if it did then does that mean it survived Sasuke's wrath? Or did Naruto manage to save him?" He thought out loud.

No matter how much time passed and how good he was moving from his past, every once in a while, Itachi would find himself faced with these types of questions once again.



Worrying about his brother and the village, and hoping they could make peace with each other.

 

[QuackVader]

[North Rukongai, District 50]

Arriving at District 50, it became even more noticeable how sharply the living conditions declined as one went deeper into the Rukongai.

Though the standard of living was not anything to write about, at least the people weren't wearing outright rags on them and didn't look like sack of bones.

It still had the image of a dilapidating slum village but at least they could fend for themselves somewhat.

Another thing to note was that as the living conditions of the Rukongai got better and you get closer to the Seireitei, the presence of Shinigamis got more frequent.

After managing to batter a set of new clothes with how tattered his former ones were, Itachi inconspicuously continued on.

Sometimes he would catch the movements of Shinigamis zipping past him, taking his presence as that of a normal soul, all serving as bits of information he could pick up on.

Something was going on in the 50th District which warranted the presence of the Shinigamis and given how fast they were moving, even in separate groups, Itachi concluded that either it was because of a Hollow incident or the trace of one.

If the groups of Shinigamis he had seen for the past days were all heading in one direction, that meant that whatever they were fighting or investigating was that serious.

"You don't mind me seeing what's going on, do you?" Itachi asked.

Even though no reply came, he nodded and faded away moments later.

…..

"Captain, it's worse than we thought. The-"

"There's no trace of the Shinigamis who disappeared, right?" A gruff voice interrupted the report with a click of his tongue.

Wearing a Captain's apparel, a white haori draped over his black shihakushō with a 'Ten' kanji written at its back, a roughly trimmed beard and a muscular physique, Isshin Shiba turned to the person doing the report.

"Have the update from the Second arrived?"

The young woman before him shook her head. Rangiku Matsumoto shook her head and replied. "We should be getting it any minute from now. They were the ones who first ran interference when the news came in."

Isshin didn't say anything and just closed him eyes with his arms folded across his chest, confusing Rangiku who just stood to the side and copied her Captain's silence.

Rangiku Matsumoto, the Vice Captain of the 10th Division, is a busty orange haired woman wearing a pink scarf around her neck being the only addition to the standard Shinigami uniform.

"They are here." Isshin said and the next second, four people, two Shinigamis and two people dressed in ninja garbs, appeared in front of them.

"Greetings, Captain Shiba." The one leading them greeted them was one of the masked ninjas, a girl from her voice.

"So?" While generally known as a fun-loving and laidback individual, Isshin Shiba was in no mood for jokes right now.

As per her duty, she delivered the news she was supposed to pass on and then a drive containing the exact route and time stamps of the missing group of Shinigamis.

"Wait, if there were no Hollow reports on the 50th District, why did they come here then?" Rangiku couldn't help but ask upon seeing the inconsistency of the data provided.

The ninja shook her head slowly. "We have no idea or information regarding why they strayed from their mission. As far as we know, no orders were given to them to come this far. Their mission ended in the 37th District." She said.

"This is becoming more of an issue than expected. Maybe I should have a word with the Captain Commander when I return." Isshin muttered before turning to the individuals from the Second. "You're dismissed. Tell Yoruichi I said thanks."

They bowed their heads and left.

"Stay here for a second, Rangiku. I want to check something out." With that, Isshin left his Vice Captain and disappeared.

…….

Itachi had trailed a certain group of Shinigamis because of a familiar similarity they had.

From their get-up to their weapons and movements, they bore a similar distinction to the Root and ANBU Black Ops he was eerily familiar with.

"Not that much of a surprise. It would have been weird otherwise if they didn't have one." Special Black Ops are the strategical backbone of any military organization.

"Kunai and shurikens; finally something normal." While he would have loved to attack them and arm himself up to a comfortable degree, he pushed that thought aside and just settled for trailing them.

They were good with their movements, but clearly not the best.

The traceback led to another group of Shinigami and Itachi finally got a good look at a Division Captain.

He wasn't stupid enough to carelessly approach, not when he knew next to nothing about the combat abilities of a division Captain, so he stayed back.

He did manage to get a few snippets from what they were saying to make a conjecture on why they were, so he made his exit as soon as the Black Ops did.

Except…

CLANG!

"Hoh? That's a good reaction." The Captain said with a dim smile as Itachi had immediately attacked as soon as his hands went to draw his blade. "What? Come on, don't tell me you're one of those silent types?"

Itachi twisted his blade around his hands, his hands blurring in motion that surprised the hell out of Isshin as he found Itachi's blade coming for his neck.

Isshin retreated and looked at Itachi with squinted eyes as he noticed one thing about the young man in front of him.

Throughout the exchange, not once did his Reiatsu make an upbeat surge.

"Who are you?" Isshin asked but Itachi remained silent, stealthily scouring the area to make sure he wasn't being surrounded.

"If you won't answer that then answer why you were snooping around my Division earlier." Isshin asked.

Both of them silently gauged each other with different resulting evaluations. While Isshin saw Itachi's reaction and swiftness with the sword, he already made a conservative estimate of Itachi's strength, even adding the possibility of a Shikai release.

On the other hand, it was only after crossing blades with him that Itachi felt the bubbling amount of energy bubbling inside the Captain's body.

"A lot of Shinigamis have been appearing lately in this district. I was keeping an ear out for information as to why that was." Since the other party already knew he had been listening in, Itachi saw no reason to tell a lie concerning that.

"Hmm? That's awfully convenient, don't you think?" Isshin asked sardonically. The current mission had left him in a bad mood and meeting a likely deserted or possible rogue Shinigami snooping around was ticking him off a fierce thing.



"Unfortunately, yes it is." Itachi answered.

 

[QuackVader]

"For your own good, sheathe that sword and come with me." Isshin said.

"Do you take civilians into custody that easily?" Itachi asked in return which made Isshin snort.

"You are no civilian. Your Zanpakutō tells otherwise, and I don't remember ever meeting or hearing of someone of your capabilities."

Itachi paused at Isshin's words and looked at his sword. 'A Soul Cutter? Is that was this sword is? An apt name, all thing considered.'

Turning back to Isshin who was looking at him with a raised brow. "I am no Shinigami, and I had no idea what kind of blade this was. I only acquired it from a dead Shinigami months ago."

The two fell in silence as they stared at each other.

Isshin was contemplating the veracity of Itachi's words while Itachi was also using his words to gauge the disposition of the Shinigami Captain.

"Aye aye, unfortunately you're still coming with me. I'd advice you don't do anything stupid, young man." Isshin said, giving a look at the blade Itachi held, his intent all too clear, telling him to lower it.

Regardless of Itachi's words or reasons, he had to be brought in for questioning or killed, and Isshin wasn't below doing any one of them depending on which one the young man chose.

"Why do you young ones have to be so difficult?" He asked in distaste, knowing just what the look in Itachi's eyes meant.

The two rushed at each other, swords drawn, and brought it down to draw blood. Itachi wasn't aiming to kill Isshin and so also was Isshin. The Uchiha wanted a strategic retreat while the nobleman just wanted him to be brought in for questioning.

'He's good, but is he looking down on me by not releasing his Shikai, or is he truly just another soul from the Rukongai? Well, let's see.'

Sensing the bubbling energy inside Isshin's body becoming a torrent, Itachi broke off the engagement and jumped back.

"The fun times ends here. Burn, Engetsu." At Isshin's words, flames came alive over the length of the blade and Isshin's energy skyrocketed, alerting the nearby Shinigamis of geir Captain's upsurging Reiatsu.

'The increase is even more dramatic with the Captain when compared to the others I've seen.' Itachi thought.

He had been keeping an eye out for this better Isshin's showcase of skills easily brush past his conservative estimate.

"Are you not going to activate your Shikai, or are you still underestimating me?" Isshin asked in confusion as he saw Itachi showing no move of him going into Shikai when it should be pretty clear by now that there was no way he would beat him without at least going into his Shikai release if he at least wanted to have a decent chance of winning.

But the reply Isshin was expecting wasn't what he got. "Shikai, huh? Is that what you call the sword's transformation?"

There were quite a few plays here and one of them was simply not letting Isshin know that he couldn't go into Shikai, but that would mean nothing and the Captain might even figure it out.

"You seriously don't know?" Isshin looked at Itachi in surprise as they clashed again but Itachi was quick to retreat this time around.

He surmised that Itachi was more of a speed build than a strength build, but then he noticed something else about the weird soul he was clashing with.

"What kind of movement technique is that? It's obviously not Shunpo." He asked as they seperated.

He could easily pressure Itachi into defeat but rather than push him into a desperate retreat or death battle, it was best for Itachi to realize that he was surrounded and give up to that.

"I have to say, the way you control your Reiatsu is splendid. Makes me doubt your words, you know." Isshin remarked.

Itachi had sensed all the incoming energy, Reiatsu as Isshin had called it, and knew this was time to retreat.

"Thinking about taking the backfoot? Sorry, can't let you do that."

Isshin's Reiatsu skyrocketed at that moment and the atmosphere felt like blistering heat on Itachi's skin.

'Fire. How ironic.' In response to Isshin's attack, Itachi's Reiatsu surged and his body disappeared as a fire slash from Isshin touched his body.

Isshin, though surprised at the new burst of consistent speed, stepped up his attack on Itachi and he had to say that if the boy truly wasn't a rouge Shinigami, he was damn a talented soul.

Twisting himself on a branch, Itachi's hands dug into his robe and the next thing Isshin saw was a knife meters away from his face which made him almost snort as he tilted his head to dodge it. Almost.

Just as his head swerved, another knife centimeters behind the first one was diverting to where his head was. He leaned behind and dodged the second knife but that was when Itachi's blade leveled on his neck like a guillotine with how he was positioned.

"Getsuga-"

His words were drown out as a fiery explosion engulfed the both of them and the entire landscape around them.

The current geography looked like the ground zero of a controlled tactical nuke.

As the concentrated recepient of the attack, Itachi bore the brunt of it, despite his quick retreat, as a side of his body was covered in burns and blood.

"You're surrounded-" A girl's voice and a blade was set at his neck. "Heh?!"

The next thing the female ninja behind him knew was her being kicked towards a rock and as soon as her back impacted against it, her spine chilled and she froze as a blade started ripping its way across her throat.

CLANG!

"Captain Shi-"

"Move!" Isshin's voice cut her off and she immediately leapt off from her previous deathbed.

Oh Itachi knew just how bad the situation was but the presence of Isshin was something that stomped almost all of his avenues of subterfuge and retreat.

This was a really bad time to be handicapped.



'Itachi.'

 

[QuackVader]

Reiryoku.

This is the energy that supplemented every living soul in Soul Society and a primary factor in the sustenance of life in general.

In loose terms, it is the 'flow' that is present as a soul pool in all sentient being, some more so that others, and it was the utilization of this 'flow' or the reaction it has with something that can channel it's energy that brought about the effervescence that was called 'Reiatsu' – the 'force' of the 'flow'.

The Reiryoku of every specie has an equal limit, regardless of how talented the individual is. Unfortunately, not everybody could reach the maximum potential of their race, so the racial limits held no concern for those aware of it as it was an already established fact that they would never reach it.

Between the two, Reiryoku and Reiatsu, the former was a dormant energy pool and the latter was an active fission of the former.

Reacting your Reiryoku with something, say a special soul blade, gave birth to the overwhelming explosiveness that was Reiatsu, and it was this that Shinigamis, or soul-based entities in the case of Itachi, used in their battles.

Upon saving the young ninja girl, Isshin had thought that Itachi would press him with an attack and that was what Itachi did as his blade passed unhesitatingly towards his left shoulder and when Isshin had brought his blade to block it, Itachi suddenly disappeared and three heads flew into the air as a reaction.

"Jigoku, Hibashira!" Isshin stabbed his sword into the ground and in a star-like pattern, torrents of flaming pillars rose into the air with two of them cutting off Itachi's retreat for Isshin to pursue.

Itachi calmly asserted the position of the Shinigamis around them as he frantically tried to dodge Isshin's angry outburst, a mostly unsuccessful attempt.

Isshin was physically stronger and fast enough to keep up and react with Itachi and his utilization of his Zanpakutō was something that was out of Itachi's grasp.

"You're good. But even you should know how futile this is." Isshin stopped and pointed his flaming blade at Itachi.

This problem was that it was no longer Itachi having to deal with Isshin, but also the crowd of Shinigamis surrounding him.

The most surprising thing to Itachi however were the elemental techniques they were using with chants, all pointed at him.

He looked down at his sword, and shook his head disappointingly. 'Just when I'm yet to recover my eyes.'

He was in a very bad place, special eyes or not, that was something he could clearly see.

"It wouldn't have gotten to this stage if you had listened to what I was trying to tell you." Itachi said.

He wasn't a man of many words so most of the times he spoke extensively, it was logically factual and straight to the point.

The smoldering heat on Isshin's blade, could be felt by all the Shinigamis around them so they knew not to get close to their Captain. "And why were you snooping around Shinigamis?"

"Information on this foreign world." Itachi answered. "And as I've told you before, even this blade wasn't initially mine."

"Right, how awfully convenient." Though Isshin said that, he was more inclined towards itachi's story being true. "How long since you arrived in the Soul Society, and what district?"

"69th District, North Rukongai. Around a year, give or take." Itachi replied.

Isshin sighed before asking. "And I'm guessing you won't lower your blades and come with us?"

Itachi didn't answer because his posture was more than enough of an answer for Isshin.

This wouldn't have been that complicated an issue had it been any other time but the Captain Commander had been strict on his orders for the Captains to unearth the reason behind the recent disappearance of souls and heavy traffic of Hollows.

Isshin didn't really have the leisure to be as willful as he usually was, more so when the young soul in front of him just quickly liberated the heads of three of his Shinigamis.

Central 46 might bitch about a few rules, especially owning a Zanpakutō that wasn't legally issued, but Isshin knew he had a full pull to waiver the matter had it just been that, way before it had escalated to the standoff it was now.

'Not to mention he almost relieved that princess' precious bodyguard. Grrh, I hate politics.' Isshin mentally berates himself for how fucked up the entire situation was, all the while Itachi quietly plotted his escape.

'Not to also mention how close he is to Shikai. No Zanjutsu, Hohou or Kidō; and yet he could hold his own this far, even when surrounded and being pushed back by me.' Isshin analyzed Itachi's battle ability, and safe to say he was quite shocked.

'With this many people surrounding us, he will contain his fire-based attack more conservatively and all I need in response to that is three of the Shinigamis pushing their location to the Captain.'

Itachi stabbed his sword into the ground to the surprise of the Shinigamis who, except a few, thought he was giving up.

Even if he couldn't use any jutsu, he could still let his Reiatsu flow out of him like he does when climbing trees or walking on water.

Pushing his Reiatsu through the sword into the ground, the ground burst open around the perimeter of the surrounding Shinigamis with spikes of raw Reiatsu like aura blades, forcing them to retreat, even Isshin.

Seeing his chance, he backpedaled to the two nearest Shinigamis who found two normal blades stuck in their chests as Itachi blurred past them.

Seeing Itachi escape, Isshin locked into his bubbling Reiatsu and held his blade forward. He could completely obliterate the area around Itachi with a single attack but he decided against it and lowered his blade.

"Captain Shiba?" Rangiku called out in confusion, seeing how her Captain wasn't giving chase.

"Did anyone register his Reiatsu signature?" He asked as he deactivated his Shikai.

Thankfully, his ever dutiful Vice Captain replied positively. "Yes, Captain. I did it when you were holding him back after we arrived."

He nodded. "Good. Run it with the Second and Twelve and see if he was a Shinigami at any point." He said.

"Yes sir!" She saluted and immediately got to work to contact the 12th Division and handing over the data to the group from the 2nd Division with them.

 

[QuackVader]

Itachi clutched his left side that was in severe pain as he retreated deeper into the forest and rocky terrains as he looked for somewhere inconspicuous to lay down for a while.

It was an unfortunate outcome for him no doubt, but his actions had been warranted. Unfortunately, he had based their senses to Reiatsu in the same way sensory ninjas were to Chakra back in the Elemental Nations, and given how he could escape the senses of those sensory ninjas, he'd baselined the senses of a Captain in the same way.

In his defense, he had nothing to base it on and given how severely ignorant he was on the subject, a clash like this was bound to happen somewhere down the line.

Thankfully he had gotten something out of all this. Something that was not the wounds all over his body.

"A Shikai release, huh. But how do I do that?" He asked himself as he took off his robes to examine the state of his body. "Somehow I know that I'm close to it."

Now more than ever, he needed to unlock this Shikai ability of his sword.

"And then those techniques. Some of them felt like Kekkei Genkai techniques." He went through the battle in his head as he cleaned himself up at a small pond. "I really need more information."

The thought of infiltrating the Seireitei, the HQ of the Shinigamis, came to mind but he swiftly pushed it aside. He wouldn't be attempting such a dangerous mission anytime soon unless after getting back the Sharingan.

No matter how much he tried not to think too much on it, the problem kept glaring hard at his face at every point he turned.

"I won't be doing anything strenuous after this for some time." He said as he washed himself and cleaned his wounds.

……

Some time later in a tent back at the place where Isshin and his group were camping, the gruff Captain stared at the communication device as it came alive.

"Captain Isshin, I got your surprisingly urgent request-" A lighthearted voice started only for Isshin to cut the speaker off with a groan.

"Not now, Urahara. Did you or Yoruichi manage to find something?" He cut straightly to the chase.

Kisuke Urahara, Captain of the 12th Research and Development Division, put on a befuddled expression and stroked his chin as he went through the data inquiry once more.

"I'm sorry, Captain Shiba, but there was no result to the Reiatsu signature you gave us. Not even the sketch I got matched any of the Shinigamis of the Gotei 13, dead or considered M.I.A."

"So he really is not a Shinigami?"

"Most likely. If his words, based on your reports, are true, then he most likely is a new soul, and um… Hiyori did mention meeting someone like that some time ago." Kisuke revealed. He did not disregard Hiyori's words but at that time there was nothing he could do, at least until now.

Now this surprised Isshin a bit. "Did she report any specific traits?" He asked, but Kisuke shook his head.

"Other than what she considered his ridiculous speed, nothing worthwhile was reported." Kisuke said.

"Yeah, that's him alright. How did they meet?"

Kisuke gave Isshin a lopsided eye but made no specific comment. "She said she found him fighting off a group of Hollows but he quickly retreated when they arrived."

"I see." Isshin remarked and wandered around a bit in his head. 'No Shikai, and even his Reiatsu application is basic, I'd say raw if not for his extremely precise control. So he started hunting Hollows on his own?'

"Captain Shiba, I can see that you're quite invested in this new soul but is he that impressive?" Kisuke asked after a while of seeing Isshin being lost to himself.

Isshin shook himself out of it before shrugging at Kisuke. "He is, but variables appearing at the same time as the recent events makes it look even more suspicious."

"I'll talk to you later, Urahara." Isshin said and cut off the transmission before turning to the only person with him inside the tent who had been silent since the beginning.

"Matsumoto, let's get moving. Tell everyone in case we come across that man again."

Rangiku nodded and made to leave but stopped and inquired of her Captain. "Captain, is he really that strong? I mean, I know you were holding back against him but we would have captured him anyway, right?"

Instead of what she expected, Isshin shook his head with a semi-serious look about his face. "I highly doubt so. At least half the squad would be dead before you can do any substantial damage to him."

Rangiku didn't say anything else to either agree or disagree with her Captain but just saluted him and left the tent.

……

Itachi now had his left hand bandaged to his shoulders from the wounds he received from the 10th Division Captain.

His natural healing was better than it had been while alive but he knew it would take a while before he was completely healed up.

With his recent breakthrough in his Reiatsu application, he spent his time focusing his everything on the blade in his hands since he had nothing else to do with how banged up he was.

"I know you're trying to tell me something, what is it?" He muttered as his Reiatsu flowed into the sword as he tried connecting with it.

The sword remained inanimate but somehow Itachi knew the blade was somehow trying to talk to him.

The way his Reiatsu flowed into the blade was as it was trying to draw him deeper, fervently beckoning him to give himself away.

"I will trust you this once." It was an experience for Itachi who had never trusted anyone since he was a child, not even his parents, to give an instance of trust to a sword.

As the sword reacted to his flow, his Reiatsu surged as if it was banging against a door it had finally arrived at after running for a long time.

It was a resonance between the core spirit of soul and an object, a sword, that perfectly reverberated with the same resonance.



An instance of harmony between a colored soul and a blank canvas – the birth of a Zanpakutō spirit.

 

[QuackVader]

Itachi found himself in a red world, one that resonated familiarly with him for some reason, unfortunately he wasn't giving the time to bask in the profoundness of the landscape he found himself in as his focus was drawn to the source of the swirling red storm that painted the entire landscape in its crimson hue.

Towering over the size of the tallest mountain he had ever seen, so tall that even the clouds floated at half its height, fully covered with majestic mane of feathers with the blackest sheen ever to witness the light's shine; a crow stood, staring down at Itachi with it's blinding red eyes.

For the first time since he could remember, Itachi felt the feeling of complete hopelessness; something he'd never once felt even when he had been in the presence of people like Pain, Jiraiya of the Sannin, the Third and Fourth Hokage.

It wasn't a threatening hopelessness or anything that suggested the likely result of a confrontation, no. It was a serene hopelessness that Itachi felt in the depths of his-

"Soul."

Its stare brought a sort of suppression that weighed on Itachi's very soul, one the rogue ninja could very clearly feel.

From its stare, Itachi could feel as if the whole world was bearing down its weight on him.

'Almost like a genjutsu!'

It wasn't a physical phenomenon, the man could tell, but the distinction between it and a physical suppression was so thin that it could almost be negligible.

"… Tsukuyomi." At his muttered utterance, the suppression stopped and though the clouds and storms remained, there was a certain clarity to the place.

Yet even now, Itachi wasn't sure where he was. Was this his mentalscape or was it the sword's?

A loud rumbling resounded out and with how quiet the place had been, it became akin to a thunderclap as the mountain-sized crow lowered its head towards Itachi.

"Itachi Uchiha." It slowly began, and with each articulated word it spoke, the swirling storm around him solidified into smaller normal-sized crows and flew around it. "I suppose I should welcome you here…or rather you me."

Some of the crows that fell off its feathers separated themselves from the rest and flew towards Itachi and started flying around him, enabling a sensation the ninja had dearly missed.

Even now he could feel it. His pact with the crows and whatever illusory world this was.

"What are you?" The number of times he's been caught out of loop ever since coming to the afterlife has been numerous that he started harboring the slightest doubts of his abilities.

"What am I?" Unlike the answer he was expecting, he was met with a question of his own.

Amidst a murder of crying crows, the two individuals, man and crow, stared at each other's faces.

"You know who I am, but I don't know who you are." Itachi started, no longer feeling the initial pressure or any other hostile feeling from the humongous crow.

"You know who you are, indeed." Its words flowed out with an intensity that reverberated through the air and ruffled Itachi's garments. "But you don't know who I am. A misfortune, yes?"

"Are you the sword's spirit?"

"Your Zanpakutō's spirit, in particular." The glow in its eyes increased as it spoke to Itachi, scrutinizing and judgemental. "All Zanpakutō spirits are born from their wielder's spirit. An essential part of them from inception to death."

Itachi could faintly make out a swirling pattern on its red eyes. "So you are a part of me?" The huge crow didn't answer but Itachi got the feeling that it was nodding its head.

"This place… what is it?" Itachi asked as he looked around. "Is this an illusion?" That was the feeling Itachi was getting from this place. It felt real and at the same time it wasn't.

"Is it? An illusion?" It's way of speaking was as if, just like Itachi, it was a stranger to this world. "What do you think?"

The former shinobi quickly realized the huge crow's weird speech pattern. Its earlier words resounded to Itachi, about Zanpakutō spirits being a part of its wielder, so in a way it would seem that just like Itachi, it too was a stranger here.

'But that can't be.' With the way it initially addressed Itachi, and backed up by Itachi's intuition, there was little to no doubt that it was at the very least acquainted with this place. But instead, 'It feels like it's copying my ignorance.'

With all the clues aligning, even without his genius, Itachi's initial assumptions became a lot more solid and all that was left was confirmation.

"It feels too real to be an illusion and conversely it would be too fake if it was real," Staring at the huge red beady eyes, Itachi felt like he saw an illusion of a familiar pattern spinning inside of them. "And it naturally can't be both."

It tilted its head in a way that showed that it didn't understand what Itachi meant. Slowly raising its head until it pierced the clouds, it directed its gaze upwards. "So is this real?... Or is it an illusion?"

Its neutral voice sounded both detached and forlorn that one could hardly make out any difference as both evenly overlapped.

Watching the crows flying around the both of them, Itachi closed his eyes as at that moment it could feel something from the huge crow. It was a kind of despair that was not overwhelming or choking. It was a kind of despair that was soft, most times not even hurting, ephemeral and lacking intent.

Is this real?... Or is it an illusion?

This was the perfect expression for the despair that Itachi and the crow felt.

This despair that lacked intent was what Itachi had felt for almost a decade and sometimes it was so lacking that he forgot it was ever there.

Opening his eyes, dark orbs that had long lost their childish luster, Itachi looked at the sky that started raining red droplets of smoke and blood.

"It's an illusion… because it once used to be real, now no longer." The crows around them started squawking as they both turned to look at each other. "Illusions are only real when we are not strong enough to break through them."

As of this moment, Itachi felt like the crow in front of him wasn't just a soul of a sword but rather a split part of his soul. It was a feeling of mutual understanding that flowed through them as two parts of one soul.

"So it is an illusion. I see." Neither of them cared longer for the smoke and blood raining down on them. It was only an illusion of the world. "Do you know who I am now, Itachi Uchiha?"

"No, I don't." Itachi simply replied. "You are not an illusion of mine, so who are you?"

It was the first thing Itachi noticed about the crow after its first words: it always reflected everything Itachi spoke.

Another way of saying it would be that the crow copied everything Itachi did – A concept so familiar to Itachi since he was born with it.

"Who am I?" The storms of red and black stirred with a mild rumble as it brought its head way down to Itachi's level, obscuring everything else apart from its large encompassing body and red eyes from his vision. "If you know your name, you should know mine. Do you not?"

He did.

This world of illusion was very telling in that regard but it was the identity of the crow that had made Itachi doubt. It had literally been staring at him the entire time and still the simple answer eluded him like the perfect illusion – one indistinguishable from reality.

"Your name…" This world of illusion where he had the greatest control and one of his strongest abilities when he was alive, now stood in front of him. A real illusion.

"… is Tsukuyomi."

The crow, a motif mostly tied to him, and the pinnacle of genjutsu, one of the reasons why he was so dreaded, had both come alive in the same being.

At Itachi's clear utterance of Tsukuyomi's name, the raining sky of smoke and blood ceased and cleared up, revealing the source of the red hue that lighted this world.

A red moon.

Seeing the moon, something clicked in place inside Itachi and the moon reflected it.

A red eye with 3 tomoe.

The Sharingan.

Seeing the changes in his eyes on the moon, Itachi frowned a little in confusion and turned to Tsukuyomi. "Only the tomoe? Why can't I access your Mangekyō, Tsukuyomi?"

Not just Tsukuyomi, his left Mangekyō, he couldn't access his right, Amaterasu.

"The answer is your soul, Itachi Uchiha." Now when he heard Tsukuyomi speaking, he no longer felt the threat of being oppressed. "Using the force of your soul to draw on our abilities, while it increased the potency, the cost for it also increased by folds. Your soul can't wield me and Amaterasu at the same time. Not yet."

It was simple.

The soul was the most primal force of any living thing and Itachi now using his soul's energy to power the Sharingan instead of his physical and natural energy like he usually did with Chakra was akin to pouring flammable oil into a flame sustained with wood. It burns bigger, brighter, and hotter and conversely so does the wood.

.

.

.

A/N: A mostly obvious knowledge but Tsukuyomi is known as the God of the Moon.

Also p@t is now 10 chapters ahead
​

 

[QuackVader]

The feeling of having his eyes back sent a sentimental thrill that coursed through Itachi's blood, and the more he looked at the living Tsukuyomi the more he appreciated the sentiment.

It was a sentiment that told Itachi that he didn't lose everything, with the evidence being the eyes now shining upon the moon above.

Ever since speaking Tsukuyomi's name, the natural guard Itachi had put up against the crow was lowered down a bit, ensuring a mutual connection of familiarity and understanding between them – a certain amount of trust.

"Is there any reason why you're here and not Amaterasu? It should be okay to speak to the both of you as long as I'm not using your abilities, shouldn't it?"

"Should it?" The reflective speech pattern of Tsukuyomi was an integral aspect of its being, as Itachi quickly understood. "I would not know. If you can't hear Amaterasu's voice yet then it is not a matter of our choice but rather your soul. Also, I haven't seen Amaterasu since I woke up in this endless world of Illusions."

Itachi's face remained as impassive as it always was, yet his mind went through a few loops the longer he conversed with Tsukuyomi who was essentially his Mangekyō's left eye.

The complications with his accessing his Mangekyō aside, knowing that he had to do the same for Amaterasu left him confused as to how to feel.

"If I have to guess, the fate of us meeting first lies with the fact that you are more likely to draw on my strength far more easily than you would with Amaterasu."

Honestly, if Itachi had found himself in an entirely different setting that didn't include Shinigamis and creating a Zanpakutō spirit, his thoughts on his abilities would have been worlds apart from the views he had now.

If Tsukuyomi was a part of his soul, then so also was Amaterasu.

Given he was now a soul form, the stress on strengthening his soul was something he had figured out a long time ago, except that he didn't consider the astronomical toll his abilities, now given life, would have on his soul.

"Is this Zanpakutō your permanent body, or can I transfer your soul to another sword?"

"Fortunately and unfortunately, this has become my permanent residence. The blade is merely the direct link between our souls." Since it seemed knowledgeable in respect to his existence, Itachi readily accepted its words while asking any questions he came up with.

In the inner world of Tsukuyomi, the concept of time and space were easily subverted, and with the Tsukuyomi expressing most of Itachi's habits as he is an integral part of the latter's soul, their words were spoken within intervals of long silence that felt like hours.

"What about my ninjutsu? Can I freely use them now?" Unlike the plain and tattered robe he entered the World of Illusions with, the crows around him melded into it, transforming it into a black cloak with red clouds on it.

While he had great misgivings about his identity when he wore this cloak during his life, the only thing he felt for it in death were mild feelings that he dismissed.

"I wouldn't know, do you?"

"I see." Nodding, Itachi left that as something he would try when he goes back. He remained silent, content in watching the red skies and floating clouds in an eerie world, one that represented his own inner self.

"What do you see when you look pass the clouds, Itachi Uchiha? Is there another world beyond the skies of this real illusion?" Tsukuyomi spoke, its crimson eyes staring at Itachi whose eyes remained staring into the clouds as if in a daze.

"I see nothing." Itachi said, "The heart does not hunger for what the eyes do not see – the world beyond me has nothing to do with me."

"…I see." Tsukuyomi's gigantic form started shimmering and slowly started peeling off into feathers. "Time is eternal, Itachi Uchiha. And pain fades with it."

Itachi didn't reply, even as Tsukuyomi disappeared into multitudes of crows and feathers, only muttering after the cries of the crows became distant.

"Eternity doesn't fade away, Tsukuyomi."

Feeling something in his grasp, he looked at his hands and wrapping his fingers around was a tanto, a very normal looking one blade with no uniqueness in his form or aesthetics.

Holding the blades in his hands, he heard Tsukuyomi's voice in his head congratulating him on reaching what that Shinigami Captain had called a Shikai.

Taking a last glance at the never-ending red sky, Itachi thought. 'Eternity might not fade away, but everything else does.'

…….

Opening his eyes, Itachi looked at the sword in his hands that was now transformed into a basic looking short sword in his hands.

From his brief talk with Tsukuyomi and getting a proper feeling of the blade in his hands, he instinctively understood that the blade wasn't complete – it felt lacking.

Right now, what he was holding was Tsukuyomi's Shikai form, meaning the blade may change upon him accessing Amaterasu.

He could feel the qualitative increase from achieving his Shikai, even if a partial one, and with it came a certain comfort.

Looking at his bandaged hand, Itachi fought back a wince upon remembering his fight with the Division Captain who wielded a sword of flames. It was the irony of the abilities they wielded that caused the pain rather than a physical stimulant.

He who possessed the black flames of Amaterasu that burned all to ashes was hurt by flames.

Foregoing that thought, taking a deep breath, he brought his two hands for a ram sign. Though the sensation of his Reiatsu flowing was very different from that of Chakra, the feeling of a successful jutsu remained the same.

With a poof of smoke, another Itachi stood in front of him, completely identical down to the loose strings on the bandage they wore.

They both released a breath and following that, their dark eyes spun in a wheel and when it stopped, in its place was the unmistakable red eyes with three dotted tomoe – a fully matured Sharingan.

He dismissed the clone and then laid his back to rest, the reemergence of his dōjutsu and his jutsus giving him a form of security that was assuring.

There was only so much he could do with his body and commendable speed and with him gaining back the repertoire of what he achieved in his life, for once Itachi felt he could rest easy.

'Not yet.' Not knowing what might have transpired with him releasing his Shikai, which should have been accompanied by a burst of Reiatsu, he pulled himself off the ground, with his robe flung over his body, he set out once again for a new place to lay low.

He knew he was a wanted man now after his fight with Shinigami Captain so he could no longer be complacent or pay little mind to his location like he had been doing when he was just another random soul in Soul Society.

Erasing his steps as he moved, Itachi ensured he had traveled a sufficiently long distance before he slowed down and started looking for a place to rest for maybe a few days and let his injury heal.

"They might have their stealth team looking around for me but unless they have a way to travel freely through the Rukongai, they will be forced to give up the search after a short while."

He still had no idea of the powers at play here in the afterlife and from what he's heard, there were only two groups of people with power and control in the entirety of Soul Society.

The Shinigamis of the Seireitei and then the nobles.

He had no illusions of what the nobles would be like, and no it wasn't an assumption based on a biased opinion.

The Shinigamis however were the sole force of power in the Soul Society and though he desired peace in his death, the habit trained into him from when he was a child prevented him from being intentionally ignorant.

He hasn't grown overconfident or was feeling a surge of overwhelming power now that he had his Sharingan back. He knew, especially after this last fight, that there were Shinigamis that were no doubt way more powerful than him, but he still had to know.

All the important information he could get would definitely be with Shinigamis, and maybe, just maybe, he might be able to find out what happened to the war after he was gone.

'Tsukuyomi, how long do you think I'll go before I can talk to Amaterasu?' He idly asked, not too worried if he'd have to wait for a while because growth naturally did take time, especially one based on the soul.

"Just like you heeded my call, you will naturally feel it when your soul is strong enough." With that it went silent, rarely ever talking unless Itachi talked to it.

"I see." Nonchalantly nodding, Itachi dressed his wounds before laying down on the floor of an abandoned shack he found. 'First heal, then gauge the strength of my jutsus. Any other thing can come after that.'​

 

[QuackVader]

Two months passed by for Itachi who decided to lay low for some time and cover his tracks. He discovered a few squads of the Shinigami stealth force and while they were very good at their tracking, managing to find a few of the spots rested at, none of them could pick up his trail or sense out his presence like the Captain had done.

Given how the only places they found were places he had carried out intensive practices with his Reiatsu, it pointed rather obviously that they could track the remnant of his energy.

Upon that discovery, he stopped using his Reiatsu extensively and just like he speculated, it did not take long for them to give up his search after losing the only trail they had of him.

There wasn't really much he could do about that and given how he was just noting which jutsus had higher or lower potency than the original did as it was common sense that not all techniques based on Chakra would work with Reiatsu. In fact, some didn't even work at all while some exploded in a burst of Reiatsu.

For the ones that didn't work, Itachi wasn't overly worried as unlike a couple of ninjas he knew who had a very large repertoire of ninjutsu and could hardly make even a fraction of that knowledge useful, he had a specialized form of combat.

"Highly volatile elements like fire, lightning and wind are easy to perform with little to no difficulty, but stable elements like earth and water style ninjutsu are the complete reverse."

Water style being one of his elemental affinities was somehow easier to perform than earth style ninjutsu, but nowhere near the ease he did with the others.

As for yin and yang releases, these were the techniques that received a rather huge boost in efficiency and control from a soul-based energy system.

Wearing a dark cloak and a large straw hat over his head, his measured steps calmly walked through the endless forestation that stretched through numerous Rukongai districts.

The frequency of the Hollows attacks had decreased rapidly so the rising panic that had been budding up in the hearts of the normal civilians was greatly abated.

After his last fight with the Captain, Itachi did not come across any confrontation with either Hollows or Shinigamis, remaining idle most of the time and even slowing down his pace after crossing the 50th District.

From his Intel, he learned that from the 50th District and below was where there was recorded frequency of seeing Shinigamis on duty, the frequency going higher the lower the district and closer to the Seireitei you get.

The living conditions of the local residents did get better as one went lower, less tattered clothes and more people wearing sandals was a rather noticeable change to spot when considering how impoverished and lacking in basic necessities the other district beyond the 50th.

Blending himself naturally with a group of people he met along the way in the forest, he followed them back to what looked like a thriving village with a healthy density of people. They even had a small market where things could be battered.

It was even when he crossed the 50th District that he started seeing people actually using currency for purchase rather than battering. People still battered but it wasn't a frequent sight like he had grown used to.

"Want some hot buns? I still have a few of my honeyed special buns, want a try?" The owner of the storefront he stopped at excitedly called him and Itachi agreed to have some and paid with a copper coin before moving along.

Itachi found an inn and given how he'd been sleeping for months now since his arrival here, he tried spending the night sleeping on a bed, even if it was stuffed with hay.

"Breakfast will cost you another coin."

"No need. Just the room is enough."

Taking his key and leaving, he entered the room and locked the door behind him and slowly lowered himself into the bed.

It left a lot to be desired but this could be called luxury compared to some sleeping situations he used to find himself in during missions.

He laid his sword against the wall on the side of his bed and kept his cloak just beside it before slipping into the mattress.

It was either the ambience of the inn or the loud chatter in the background but Itachi was able to fall asleep more easily, or daresay, more peacefully.

…..

The first ray of sunlight that peek through the small window of the room stirred Itachi awake.

Taking a slow glance over the room, he observed that there was no instance of a break-in attempt and nodded to himself.

This was the North Rukongai, known as the most violent part of the Rukongai, and simple things like break-ins weren't even considered trespassing in this crime infected quadrant.

"… Another day."

Indeed it was. But the question each new day brought to Itachi was whether to continue forward or slow down a little. He wouldn't lie and say he wasn't curious about the Seireitei, because he was.

……

[Seireitei, 2nd Division Barracks]

The sound of faint, almost indiscernible steps, sounded softly through the spacious hallway of the 2nd Division of the Gotei 13 as three people walked down from the long hall to the training area where faint sounds of combat could be heard.

The strange thing however was that the footsteps heard only originated from two of the people who were dressed in traditional ninja garbs and not the woman donning on a white haori walking in front of them.

Wearing the telltale sign of a Shinigami Captain, Yoruichi Shihōin, Captain of the 2nd Division and Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, also the head of one of the Four Principal Clans of the Soul Society, her very presence exuded a graceful and calm posture that few could match.

Coming upon one of the numerous training areas of her Division, her eyes trailed all the people present before landing particularly on one - a small figure training in an obscure corner of the otherwise large space.

"How long has she been at it?" Not asking anyone in particular, her golden eyes were entirely focused on the young girl that was so aggressively engrossed in her training that she paid no mind to anything else around her.

"It's already past the fourth hour. She's been like this ever since that day, even coming to train in the middle of the night." One of the men behind her answered.

Hearing that, Yoruichi's face showed no imperceptible shift, only the perpetual calmness remained but the two behind her had served her for so long to know when their Noble Lady was annoyed.

"How long has it been?"

The two men looked at each other, exchanging a quick glance before the other one promptly answered.

"2 months and 17 days."

She merely nodded and entered the training field, drawing the attention of some the Shinigamis who weren't already aware of her presence, ignoring the salutes to her as she made her way towards the girl who despite her body trembling in pain, continued training as if her life depended on it.

"Soi Fon." Yoruichi caught the way Soi Fon instantly stiffened and the way her breath hitched before she turned around and knelt before her.

"Yoruichi-sama."

"Oh don't be so stiff, Soi Fon. I was at least expecting a hug after being gone for some time, or did my dear Soi Fon not miss me?"

Her character flipped so fast that no one would have ever thought her face held any expression of the serene calm it did mere moments ago.

"Yo-Yoruichi-sama…" Soi Fon stuttered so hard, blushing and waving her hands as she struggled and failed to get any other words out of her mouth.

Seeing Soi Fon's reaction got a hearty laugh out of Yoruichi, further deepening the poor girl's embarrassment.

"Come on, let's go inside and you can catch me up on what I've missed since being away." She beckoned and Soi Fon was all too happy to rush inside to escape making another public scene like the one that just took place.

Arriving at the Captain's office, Yoruichi took off her Captain's haori and threw over a chair before taking a seat on the mattress behind a small desk in an elevated corner of the room.

With the two of them in the privacy of her room, Yoruichi's expression fell into a warm and concerned one.

"Tell me Soi Fon, why are you having trouble sleeping?"

This wasn't exactly a new development as it started happening even before Yoruichi had left for some clan duties, approximately 2 months and 17 days ago. Ever since the day she came from that mission where she almost died if not for Captain Shiba saving her.

Soi Fon said nothing, just bowing her head in shame. Even if she was asked, she wouldn't know how to respond because not even she could understand why she kept seeing her throat slit open almost every night when she slept.

She was a Shinigami. She was supposed to be familiar with the concept of dying on the battlefield.

Seeing Soi Fon say nothing, Yoruichi sighed. 'I suppose I have quite a lot of time on my hand.'

"Soi Fon, get your things in order. We're leaving in five minutes." She suddenly said, surprising Soi Fon who immediately nodded and went to grab a few supplementary weapons and a change of clothes, but not before asking.

"Are we going on a mission, Yoruichi-sama?"

Yoruichi's grin at that question carried a certain sinister light in it, nodding and saying in a sweet voice. "We are going on a hunt."

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10 chaps ahead on p@treon.com/QuackVader

 

[QuackVader]

[Soi Fon POV]

How she turned out like this in such a short time was something Soi Fon had thought long and hard about, yet couldn't come to a goddamned answer.

Due to the surge in Hollow activities months ago, her Lady had commanded her and a smart team to run recon for the Tenth since a Captain was going out and it should have been an easy mission, even if she would be away from her Lady's presence.

And it had started that way.

All they had to do was spread out, comb the neighboring districts and save Captain Shiba time in pursuing the Hollows, report back and be done with their mission so that she could promptly go back to serve at her Lady's side – which was exactly what she did.

She finished her mission, reported back to Captain Shiba, passed on the message from her Lady to the Captain and was on her way back to the Seireitei which was when she had felt the Captain's Reiatsu surge, followed by the releasing of his Shikai.

Even from afar, she could feel a certain warmness in the air after the Shikai release, leaving her in awe of the strength of the Shinigami Captains, her Lady too, but she kept those at bay and promptly returned.

She was here for information and the current situation was exactly the highlight of her mission – to know the strength class and behavioral patterns of the Hollow Captain Shiba was fighting, except it wasn't a Hollow.

It was a man.

A Shinigami or at least that was what she had initially thought until she paid attention to the man.

Despite wielding a Zanpakutō, he used neither his Shikai, Hohou, nor did he use any of the Kidō arts.

'Was he looking down on a Captain by not activating his Shikai even when Captain Shiba had done so, or was this a ploy not to make Captain Shiba go hard on him?'

Regardless of her thoughts, the plain truth that unfolded before her eyes and the eyes of everyone there had been the sheer skill the man fought with, even earning the acknowledgment from the Captain, Soi Fon realized, given he had activated his Shikai.

She and the others watched, waiting for the exact time to act and soon it came.

From the way the atmosphere seemed to dry up and the surge of Reiatsu from Captain Shiba's blade, she knew he was about to use his sword abilities, which normally should have ended the fight but once again it showcased how skilled his opponent was, even if he was on the weaker end.

As expected, though he escaped, he was severely injured and the tree he had retreated to had been one closest to Soi Fon and she had acted at the prime opening from a weakened opponent.

Before he could move or even know what was happening, she held a blade against his throat but before she could even finish her words, pain assaulted her abdomen and then her back, all in quick succession as she impacted a rock from the force of the man's kick, and when she opened her eyes, that was when she saw it.

A Zanpakutō, breadths away from slashing a line through her throat and the cold black eyes calmly granting her death.

'My Lady, Yoruichi-sama, is this the end for me?'

It had happened all too quick that she couldn't even get a word in before a blade was pointing at her throat.

Would she die a meaningless death just like the rest of her brothers? Without even becoming someone worthy enough to stand by Yoruichi-sama's side?

Lucky enough for her, Captain Shiba had saved her just in the nick of time and all she could remember doing was staring blankly through the rest of the fight that had the man surrounded, even as she saw others dying so quickly without even being able to react.

Would she have died without even knowing it? No, she knew when she would have died but she could do nothing to stop it… she shivered fiercely at that.

But soon that thought turned into a nightmare… dying before she could say a word or even wield her blade.

No Zanjutsu, no Kidō spell, no Shunpo – just dying before she could do a single thing.

…..

Walking into the Research Institute of the 12th Division with Soi Fon following behind her, Yoruichi made her way straight towards Kisuke's office, which was a large lab and also where he spent over 90% of his time, and found the blonde shabby Captain tinkering with mechanical contraptions that only he knew the use of.

"Yoruichi! Happy seeing you here!" Without even looking at her, he waved in her direction but kept his focus on the object he was tinkering with. "You too Soi Fon, how are you doing?"

"That's none of your business, Urahara!" Soi Fon huffed, turning her face to the side and crossing her arm.

Rolling her eyes at their antics, she put a stop to their bickering before it escalated. "Can you two stop your flirting and keep it for another time?" She ignored the way Kisuke turned rigid and the sputtering mess of simmering rage Soi Fon became. "Kisuke, I need one of your personal Reiatsu scanners."

Kisuke stopped what he was doing and looked at Yoruichi and Soi Fon, said nothing as he dug his hands into his inner pockets and fished out a small hand held device that he threw at Yoruichi. "Something important?"

"Yes, very important." Yoruichi said as she pocketed the device. "Soi Fon and I are going on a hunt for that guy."

Soi Fon audibly swallowed and a trickle of sweat ran down her forehead.

"I had a few of my people try to track him down but they lost his trail sometime ago. All they discovered was that he was steadily making his way down the Rukongai Districts."

"You think his destination is the Soul Society?" Kisuke asked.

Yoruichi shrugged. "Who knows? It's not like it matters all that much. Apparently he's pretty strong too for a new soul-"

Kisuke interjected. "If he's a new soul. Captain Shiba said he could give a lot of the Lieutenants a run for their money and that's without Kidō or a Shikai. That doesn't seem like a new soul to me, but I guess it would be pretty interesting if it is."

The two Captains shrugged at their own opinions, not exactly invested in it. Like Kisuke said, it would be pretty interesting if it's true, and like Yoruichi said, it didn't matter all that much.

Leaving the Research Institute of the Twelve, Yoruichi and her ever loyal retainer walked in silence, Yoruichi in front while Soi Fon timidly walked behind.

"Yoruichi-sama…" Soi Fon started but couldn't find the words to continue.

"Say what you want to say, Soi Fon."

She bowed her head in apology, very ashamed for having troubled her master to act in her stead. "I'm sorry for my incompetence, Yoruichi-sama."

"Sorry for what?" Yoruichi turned around in genuine surprise. "Don't be mistaken, Soi Fon, you are not blame yourself for anything. Yes, that also means your weakness. No matter how strong you are, have in mind that there's someone or something out there that will make you vulnerable – that applies to everyone, even me. No one is infallible Soi Fon, no one."

Perhaps it was the way Yoruichi said it or vulnerability she showed at that moment, or it could have simply been Soi Fon's eyes displaying something that was never there, but for that short instance, Soi Fon, much to her horror, felt that perhaps Yoruichi wasn't that far away from her.

Maybe, just maybe, she could bridge the almost insurmountable gap between her and her Lady.

"Come on, let's go. I need to teach the bastard who messed with my cute little butterfly." Yoruichi beamed and disappeared in a Shunpo.

Seeing Yoruichi gone, Soi Fon thought over what she said and a smile came alive across her lips. "Yes, Yoruichi-sama!" And with that she was gone too.

Her thoughts were pretty simple, with her Yoruichi-sama by her side, facing that man once again and apprehending him to the maggots nests was a piece of cake.

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10 chaps ahead on p@treøn/QuackVader

 

[QuackVader]

A/N: For those still asking about Itachi's abilities, it's quite a loose concept but let's see. Given that it's Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu who are the base of his Shikai and future Bankai, as opposed to the Sharingan being his Zanpakutō's spirit, it is his Mangekyō. I made it that way because the normal Sharingan doesn't have that uniqueness that the Mangekyō does, which are the two abilities that are unique to every Uchiha in Itachi's case - Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu.Meaning his Shikai, which is Tsukuyomi for now, is a fully illusion-type Zanpakutō. Him having the Sharingan without activating his Shikai is kinda like a prerequisite, ie. To access his Shikai, he must first unlock his Sharingan, the thing is he did both at once. Classic Itachi I guess (plot)

You can find 10 chapters ahead on my patreøn

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A day like all others in the North Rukongai was what this day was to Itachi; traveling, training with Tsukuyomi, hunting some wild animals, fighting off some bandits and everything that made the Rukongai what it was.

Knowing how sensitive Shinigamis were to Reiatsu, especially now that he was getting progressively closer to the Seireitei, Itachi knew he couldn't be releasing it anytime he wanted unless he wanted any nearby Shinigami to hone into his location.

Though he couldn't let out his Reiatsu in fear of being found out, he quickly realized that what he needed to do was control the output he released and he was fine.

Which meant using his jutsus were out, not like he needed to since he'd already mastered those jutsus and all he needed to do was tweak the Reiatsu equivalent to use them just like he did with Chakra.

He had spent over a week sleeping in the inn, not because of any illusion of comfort the haystack bed gave but because he knew that moving too much was a good way to gain a trail.

The Shinigamis might already be aware of his general direction but they can't paint the straight trail he's traveling in.

"What do you say, Tsukuyomi? It's about time I start moving, don't you think?" He idly asked the sword sheathed at his waist. "I see."

Being a part of Itachi's soul meant that Tsukuyomi also possessed the same habits the Uchiha did, meaning it was also a Zanpakutō spirit of few words.

But Itachi didn't need it's express words to understand the sword's intent.

The thought that occurred to Itachi and made him stay over a week at the village was the thought of what he would do after completing his mission in the Seireitei. Would he satisfy his curiosity or would he act based on what he learns?

For some reason, he was not too keen on finding out what his decision would be?

The only thing he was sure of was that he wanted to know all there was about the Soul Society, the Shinigamis and the Hollows.

Despite this being a world of souls, it felt too similar to the human world, and that for some reason, did not resonate well with Itachi. Not just because of preconceived notions, but because for some reason, no one seems to know anything he was talking about.

No one has heard of the Elemental Nations, the Hidden Villages or even the Tailed Beasts. Even the calendar of the time they died was different from what Itachi knew.

Sure they knew things like ninjas and samurais and the Warring Era but their description of them were a lot different from the ones Itachi knew.

'This seems more like the afterlife of an alternate dimension.' That was the conclusion Itachi had come to after thinking over for a long while, giving him more reason for him to find out just where he was.

This was too real to be an illusion, after all he of all people would know, so that meant either something happened with his soul due to deactivating the Edō Tensei or his soul somehow shifted dimensions.

"Sometimes you think too much for your own good, Itachi." He heard the soft humming of his blade.

"A man's thoughts are his greatest treasure, more so for a blind man." He replied but Tsukuyomi said nothing else, retreating to the solitude of his inner world.

Without anyone noticing his departure, Itachi activated his movement technique and disappeared into the woods, traveling in the classic Shinobi style.

…..

[With Yoruichi and Soi Fon]

"Lady Yoruichi, do you think we'll be able to find him in the Rukongai? It's one soul out of millions." It wasn't that she doubted the abilities of her Lady Yoruichi, she could never, but it was just plain curiosity.

"Given the way he's traveling mostly in what could be called a straight line and how he's steadily making his way down the Rukongai, all we need is a little bit of luck, technicality and some old tracking tactics to get a preserving trail on him."

Unlike the others, Yoruichi had a broad look on things like these and given her innate rebellious streaks and little regards for rules and societal constraints, something like this was something that fully garnered her curiosity.

If Captain Shiba's words about the man was to be believed and that he was truly a newly reincarnated soul, then he truly was one of the talented souls they've seen, just like Gin Ichimaru.

'No Zanjutsu, Hohou or Kidō. If he is proficient in these then he might be able to beat more than half of the Lieutenant.' That was her conservative thought as she knew the dangers of unrealistic expectations, even if the words of Captain Shiba can be trusted.

"Before I left for the clan meeting, I sent some of the Onmitsukidō to the 69th District to confirm whether his words were true."

Soi Fon was surprised at the new information as this was something she had no idea of, despite being the Lieutenant of the 2nd and Yoruichi's retainer.

"And?"

Yoruichi smirked. "For better or worse, it came back positive. The 69th District was the first place his identity was confirmed and all we got from that is his name, Itachi."

The information was sparse and the general thing that aligned was that he hardly spoke to people and he hardly stayed in one place for long.

For Yoruichi, the situation was just amusing and she felt she could pay it a little attention since it also concerned her little servant/friend.

Right now they were in the North Rukongai's 44th District and the reason they could get this far in their trail was something Yoruichi was quick to realize and that made her skeptical.

The person they were looking for was obviously covering his trails and she had to admit he was very good at it, VERY good that she couldn't even pick up his personal trail. That meant experience, a LOT of it.

He covered his personal trail but didn't care about leaving a trail with witnesses or his actions, however few they were, which she deduced that he most likely didn't want to face off directly against them.

"Soi Fon, this person is likely stronger than the conservative estimate Captain Shiba made." She said seriously, earning a nod from Soi Fon who grasped the meaning of that.

The conservative estimate was that the man, Itachi, was around the level of the weaker Lieutenants given that the only edge he had was his skill with the blade and his movement technique, but according to Yoruichi's words, he might be stronger than that.

"Let's go, Soi Fon. This is turning into something really exciting."

"Yes, Lady Yoruichi."

The two of them, Soi Fon following directly behind her Lady, disappeared in gusts of winds as Yoruichi tracked Itachi's location with the device she borrowed from Kisuke.

Only she would have to wait for him to use his Reiatsu and for the device to be able to pick it up and point them in the direction it came from.

…..

[General POV]

It was nighttime when Itachi made his way into the 43rd District, and that was after a week of traveling, well he did slow down considerably as he wanted to reduce the risk of being spotted by Shinigamis.

Between the 45th and 43rd District, Itachi had already seen two groups of Shinigamis on patrol so he knew he had to be extra careful in order not to let out too noticeable of a trail to be tracked.

Given that he wasn't in the mood to look for a cave or an abandoned building to pass the night, he settled for one of the highest trees he could find and climbed it, resting against two of its closely-knitted branches with his sword resting against his shoulders.

As a soul, he rarely ever felt the need to sleep or eat but he still did every now and then, and now he spent his time staring at the night sky of the Soul Society.

"It's peaceful." He muttered.

The moon, closely surrounded by a few stars and fleeting clouds, appeared as a calming view for all those who were watching it on this night.

"It is. It represents the epitome of a calm and fleeting state, always perpetual, hence why it is referred to as a mirror." Tsukuyomi surprisingly spoke, its voice always calm, strong yet fleeting, just like the moon.

"Because no one can mirror a calm state comparable to the moon?" Itachi asked and he heard the soft hum of the giant crow. Looking at the moon, Itachi nodded, "I guess you're right."

The view surrounding Itachi changed and the sky that was once a pure white moon and tiny stars turned into a bleeding red moon that shone a crimson light to the dark depth beneath it.

The sound of crows cawing created a rather dreadful atmosphere but Itachi closed his eyes with a peaceful and calm look on his face, leaning against the stump of a mountain with crows flying around him.

"But I find this one more peaceful."

As if drawn to his words like a magnet, the rest of the seemingly illusory world dimmed its light and the moon focused its light on Itachi's sleeping figure.

 

[QuackVader]

Groggily opening his eyes, the first thing Itachi saw was birds perched on his fearlessly. One even stood on the guard of his blade and tilted its head at him before tittering about.

Dawn was just creaking at the horizon and from how dark the sky still was, Itachi guessed he had at most two hours of sleep. Just enough to start any day.

Jumping down the tree that sheltered him through the night, he landed soundlessly while holding his straw hat to prevent it from flying away.

Coincidentally for him, the path he took led him to a running creek. Since it's been two days since he last had a bath, he decided on a quick wash and fish for breakfast.

After his wash, he took out a knife and used it to scoop out a single fish from the flowing creek before lighting a fire.

The flavors, or lack thereof, didn't mean much as even this breakfast was seen as a stop to the monotony of what his life now was.

It was during this monotone that he heard rustling behind the bushes and from the bushes came two ladies.

He calmly noted the both of them while the two of them froze as they saw him. The slight hostility and recognition that flashed through the younger woman's eyes as she looked him over also did not escape his eyes.

"Um, excuse me. We're sorry for disturbing your little camping." The other purple haired woman said and naturally closed the distance between them but Itachi didn't react, still roasting the fish in his hands even as they stared at each other.

"No worries." He said while checking his surroundings for any sign of encirclement but found none. 'They might be adept at hiding.'

He refrained from using his Sharingan and just as naturally offered his food. The outgoing woman smiled widely at the offer and came over to sit across him with the fire between them.

She beckoned at the other young woman, her junior or subordinate, and the both of them sat on the floor watching as Itachi roasted the few pieces of fish he caught.

"You're not much of a talker eh?" Yoruichi asked, but other than the slight nod from Itachi, he gave no other indication of an answer. "My name is Yoruichi, and this cute one here is Soi Fon. What is your name kind stranger?"

Soi Fon was outright confused at how her Lady was asking, having no clue on what they were doing. Had the man found out their identity already or was she hoping this lousy and suspicious acting would do the trick?

They both wore a bracelet that suppressed their Reiatsu and were dressed in normal clothes per the Rukongai standard. All in all they looked like normal souls out in the forest and chancing upon him was just that, a stroke of coincidence.

"Itachi. Here, eat up." He passes them the small pieces of fish he had to spare, ignoring the suspicious light in the younger woman's eyes as he eats his share.

He didn't know what these Shinigamis were up to but that didn't matter. He couldn't sense anyone else in his range but that didn't take anything from the danger in front of him.

Naturally, he had identified Yoruichi, the purple haired woman, as the stronger of the two of them and the outgoing way she approached him only made her more dangerous in his eyes.

"So what brings you out here, Itachi? I mean, you do look like the wandering type but I guess you can say I'm just curious."

For Yoruichi, the current situation was very funny to her. This was the man that they had spent a few days looking for and here he was, just roasting fish for them. The entire thing felt like a funny joke to her that she very much wanted to laugh to.

Oh, she saw the look in his eyes alright. She knew he was wary of them, wary of her, but the fact that he shared his food with them instead of unsheathing his sword and making a run for it was a novel experience when the normal reaction to those who knew she was after them was first to run, and then to fight when they realize that running is futile. Not that fighting is any better.

Now what was Itachi planning? She was naturally curious.

Itachi, not knowing what was going through any of his visitors' heads, patiently waited and kept the silence as they slowly ate their food.

He offered them water from his pouch and Yoruichi warmly accepted it while her junior's eyes looked grievous, still she accepted it.

After the small breakfast, Yoruichi trained her eyes on Itachi and relaxed her posture with a wide grin on her face waiting for his next move. Given the few reads she has on him, it could possibly be…

"Miss Yoruichi and Miss Soi Fon. Do you have any need of me?" Itachi asked.

It was a tricky question, Yoruichi noted, but that might just be the way he spoke. His speech pattern was withdrawn and formal and while others might take his words as a smart wordplay, those who paid attention would know that it was just a direct question, no veil to it.

Sitting properly with a now calmer smile, she addressed him. "Why would you say that?"

"You've been looking for me, have you not? After all, none of you bothered hiding the fact that you recognized me and since you're not forthcoming with your objectives towards me, it's only fair I ask." Itachi spoke calmly, not a single trace of nervousness or any telling emotion that showed distress at his current situation.

"You're one amusing soul, you know?"

"I doubt those are the reasons you're here. So I'll ask again, Lady Shinigami, what are your reasons for seeking me out?" He asked again.

"You-" Soi Fon bared her hostility and anger at his arrogant words but stopped herself as she saw Yoruichi's raised hand.

"That's the problem with you serious types. You don't even know when you might offend someone with your words." The Head of the Shihōin Clan grumbled mildly irritated. "How about we introduce ourselves again; I'm Yoruichi Shihōin, Captain of the Gotei 13 2nd Division, and this is my Lieutenant, Soi Fon."

Most of her frivolity was lost with her introduction but Itachi paid it no mind. "Itachi Uchiha. A recently reincarnated soul."

Yoruichi only raised an eye at his simple introduction. "You don't seem like a recently reincarnated soul." She commented, watching Itachi's reaction.

"Then to that I have nothing to say as it is the truth." He simply replied.

"Say I believe you, mind telling me what you were when you were alive? Obviously you weren't a normal human."

At that question, the feeling she got from Itachi's normally calm dark eyes turned a little rigid. "I don't see the reason to answer you that."

Soi Fon was finally fed up with this man's arrogance and rudeness towards Lady Yoruichi that she ended up pointing a finger at him. "Listen here you! Lady Yoruichi is being kind enough to listen to you and not immediately take you under custody and you're still being presumptuous!"

"Soi Fon."

"But Lady Yoruichi-"

"Soi Fon!"

Soi Fon shrunk back at Yoruichi's shout, rarely ever being at the receiving end of it. She felt aggrieved but she knew that she might have stepped over a line.

"I apologize for her words." Yoruichi said, knowing that the matter could've escalated due to Soi Fon's little tirade.

Itachi lightly shook his head, not caring one bit about the other woman's chidings. "You still have yet to tell me why you are after me, Lady Yoruichi?" Though he highly doubted it, he hoped this woman was someone reasonable and their conversation would continue being peaceful so that he can learn what he could about the Shinigamis from her.

Yoruichi shrugged and pointed at the sulking Soi Fon behind her. "You almost killed my little Soi Fon during your fight with Captain Shiba, not to mention you also killed a few Shinigami, so on behalf of my little subordinate here, I decided to seek you out. Simple right?" And back came the false playfulness.

Itachi looked at Soi Fon, guessing she was part of the ninja squad, soon remembering that she was probably the one who snuck up on him that one time and the one he almost killed first if not for the timely intervention of the Captain.

"I see." He said, "Unfortunately it was circumstances of the event that prompted my hands. I and the Captain during that time were ignorant of the other's general situation resulting to that fight. Now if you're here to bring me in, I'm afraid to say that our conversation will no longer be peaceful."

Yoruichi nodded awkwardly while scratching the back of her head, not at all minding the threat in Itachi's words. "Hai, this is a real damp fest."

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A/N: Should I leave it as Lady Yoruichi or use the Japanese equivalent, Yoruichi-sama, along with using it on some special occasions?​

 

[QuackVader]

Read 10 Chapters ahead on pat

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––––––––

The calmness that had persisted from their breakfast and the beginning of the conversation had started thinning out and the three of them could feel it.

It wasn't like they were intentionally doing it and pushing their hostilities outward towards the other, but that it was clear that the conversation wouldn't lead to a compromise.

Without knowing what he was getting into, Itachi will be considered brain dead if he lets them apprehend him. He was on the back foot when it came to the information both sides had, he knew and they knew it also.

"Young man, don't you think you're being too unreasonable? Even my words aside, the fact that you killed a few Shinigami means that Central 46 automatically has it out for you. And besides, aren't you heading to the Seireitei? We'll just be cutting the journey."

Honestly Itachi had nothing to lose by following Yoruichi as based on her character, she would protect him from the charges against him regardless of what the fools of Central 46 wanted to cry about. But Itachi didn't know that.

As per his character, he was heavily distrustful of everyone. He was the type of person to backstab someone if it meant completing his mission.

'Maybe I shouldn't think like that anymore. This isn't a mission…. Sigh, easier said than done.'

"I still know nothing about the Shinigami, and also those Hollows that seem to show up every now and then." He said.

Yoruichi sighed irritatedly, knowing just the type of person Itachi was. 'He is the type that would try every avenue available to him to get his way. As for his moral lines, that remains to be seen.'

"We're in charge of guiding lost souls to the Soul Society and also stopping the Hollows from devouring the defenseless souls. It's a pretty simple job." She said nonchalantly.

"Guiding lost souls? Does that mean you go to the human world?" He asked tentatively.

"Don't." Yoruichi sharply cut him off, misunderstanding the reason behind his question. Not that she was far off. "Shinigami are forbidden from interfering with their earthly relations. In fact we're forbidden from interacting with humans so we won't influence their souls."

Seeing Itachi merely nod, Yoruichi held back a groan knowing he hadn't let go of that.

The young man before her was clearly a warrior when he was alive, an exceptionally strong one, maybe even a Fullbring and Yoruichi will admit that he was very to read, even for her, but she has lived for centuries and have met all sorts of people with different types of habitual quirks. This wasn't the first time dealing with someone like Itachi.

'It's like seeing a picture of Byakuya. I bet just like Byakuya, he used to smile freely as a child.'

"Now then Itachi, what do you say? Want to come with me to the Soul Society or do you want to take your time walking there?" She asked with a smile, even laying back and propping up her head with her hand. "Know that I'm still bringing you with me regardless."

And this was the reason why the current situation was so tense.

Itachi, while he wouldn't say he's met a lot of willful people like Yoruichi in his life, he knew just enough of them to know that they were annoying to deal with.

'Deidara. Hidan.' These were the two most willful people Itachi was close to and he knew the only way to get them to listen to you was to beat the obedience into them or induce enough fear to ensure it. Or both. Just like he did with Deidara.

"Don't you think you're being too unreasonable, Lady Yoruichi?" He asked. Objectively, he preferred the cordiality they were sharing to the hostility of the Shinigamis he now received. Thinking that way, it might be him who was being unreasonable.

"I can say the same for you. I can hazard a guess as to why you want to reach the Seireitei and here I am, gifting it to you. Yet you want it on your terms." Yoruichi stared at him with one eye closed. Soi Fon behind her had her eyes trained on every minute movement Itachi made.

"Say I follow you and get what I want, what do you want in return?" He asked. The absolute feral nature that wafted around this Shinigami Captain, hidden behind a veil of carefreeness, was something that reminded him of Kisame, his partner in the Akatsuki. Maybe that was why he bothered with this long conversation.

Hearing those words, she clapped her hands happily. "Easy, just like Soi Fon here, you'll be under my 2nd Division and under my orders."

He had very well expected it from the beginning when she chose to maintain civility, but those words still ticked him a fierce thing.

Itachi had no problems with serving under someone, he had done so his entire life. What he had a problem with, especially after the event of his clan's massacre at his hands, was the thoughts of those he served.

He didn't escape a cog just to jump into another one. He didn't keep away from the war by choosing death just for him to trap himself in another one in death.

Yoruichi had no idea of his inner turmoil since his expression barely shifted. All she cared about was snagging Itachi under her command because even now, his control over his Reiatsu was something that fascinated her. Everything was calmly kept within his body.

"I'm afraid I can't make such a hasty decision, Lady Yoruichi." He said. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

This was a conversation he had with Tsukuyomi but the answer was something neither of them could reach.

Do not fall under the illusion of the past, Itachi. You have no duty to uphold; not to your brother, not to the village, not to your dead clansmen. Your duty in death is what you want it to be.

Those were the words Tsukuyomi had said to him.

His experience would always be there, and his past always an illusion in his mind, all something to learn from – not a shackle.

"I guessed so." Yoruichi said softly, a smile still on her face. "Now I will have to arrest you. Can't have the Head Captain questioning my capabilities after my little personal vacation. On the bright side, I'll have ample time to instruct you in ways of a Shinigami."

Like most of the decisions Yoruichi's made in her long life, it was spontaneous and with little logical reasoning, if any at all.

Honestly she would have just killed Itachi if not for the initial impression he made on her. His calmness and decisiveness was something most lacked, even in their long life as souls.

'And I want to see what it's like teaching a genius.' She thought. Kisuke didn't count because it was more accurate to say they taught each other.

"A shame. I enjoyed our cordiality." Itachi said, not appearing the least bit rattled upon hearing that she was going to arrest him.

"Soi Fon." She called.

"Yes, Lady Yoruichi." Soi Fon answered.

"Move away." It was a simple order and Soi Fon carried it out immediately.

Itachi and Yoruichi stared at each other calmly and got up from their position slowly.

Itachi held his blade while Yoruichi just stood there unfazed, only a flickering flame standing between them.

All Soi Fon saw was that the two of them disappeared, initially too fast for her eyes to follow until she locked onto their Reiatsu, and that was when she realized.

Even as they clashed, both of them had every wave of their Reiatsu under complete control.

With Itachi, the very first thing he realized before they even clashed was that she was easily faster than him, almost impossible for him to catch her movements with his normal eyes.

When he brought his blade down, he could easily tell how experienced she was with the way she stopped his sword's momentum but using her arms to impact the hilt of his blade.

"Show me something interesting, Itachi." She grinned at him and made a backflip to dodge the slash from a knife in Itachi's other hand.

"Let's use this, okay?" She said and pulled out a small dagger before rushing at him and clashing blades once again.

If not the first exchange, then the second, that they both knew how skilled the other was with their weapons.

Even as a master hand-to-hand combatant, Yoruichi's proficiency with a blade was something only a few Captains could contend with and she could name them on one hand.

Despite wielding a blade, Itachi was no slouch when it came to taijutsu. Whether it was against fellow Jonins or even Kages, Itachi's taijutsu would never fall short.

He blocked Yoruichi's kick, grunting at the unrealistic force behind them even though he knew she still wasn't pulling out all stops.

"You're pretty good, Itachi." She complimented and Itachi replied with a slash that she ducked under and quickly crossed to block the back heel coming for her face.

She just wanted to test him, nothing more, and seeing a tip of how good he was in combat, she wanted to see more.

She was curious.

 

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–––––––


Seeing how the two crossed blades against each other, Soi Fon was once again reminded of her helplessness and just how easy the man her Captain was facing was close to killing him.


It was obvious that Yoruichi was not trying to kill him but instead incapacitate him but that was a technicality that Itachi could care less about.


He wasn't keen on exchanging blades with her and the two times he tried retreating, her speed skyrocketed and so did the force behind her attacks.


'Then again, she's a Captain.' He had wanted to keep the Sharingan under wraps for as long as he could but he knew trying to fight off Yoruichi without it was a tall order as he was having problems keeping up with her, more so after her recent increase in speed.


'Thankfully my eyes are not the only thing I have.'


"Let's kick this up, shall we?" She said, not looking the least bit wound up. "Hadō #12: Fushibi."


At her intonation, orange energy binding shot from her hands and stuck their numerous ends on all parts of Itachi's body and his sword. With how close they were to the other, he had almost no time to quickly react.


Seeing him in her binds, she intoned. "Hadō #21: Shakkahō."


The energy binds of the first intonation, Fushibi, glowed and exploded with a great force, reducing a sizable part of the forest to ruins.


Yoruichi almost frowned since she knew he didn't escape that, 'Is that it?'… almost frowned.


-!!


"Yoruichi-sama!"


Almost as if a mirage, Itachi appeared behind her with his blade at her throat, no sign on his body that he had been in an explosion.


"Hoh? Mind telling me how you did that because I know I definitely hit you." Even when having a weapon laid intimately across her neck, the amusing grin on her face never faltered.


Itachi didn't answer her, thinking how he could escape her. Unfortunately he still didn't have his Mangekyō or else he would have knocked out her subordinate and put her in a Tsukuyomi. Given how perfectly controlled her Reiatsu was, he doubt she'd easily succumb to a normal genjutsu.


His thought came to a grinding halt as he felt how her Reiatsu slipped for a moment and that was enough for him to shift away as her body disappeared from his hold.


His eyes danced around the forest but he couldn't even get a whiff of her, let alone her Reiat-


"Hadō #4: Byakurai." Right there in front of him, with a finger touching his head, Yoruichi chanted and a beam of lightning obliterated Itachi and everything behind him.


"I have to say, you sure do have a few tricks up your sleeve." She spoke with unveiled interest as she looked at the remains of a log that had replaced where Itachi had stood. "Looks like I'll have to be a little bit serious with you."


"Soi Fon, watch closely." She called to Soi Fon who had her mouth wide open, dumbly nodding, as she watched a fight didn't understand.


Yoruichi turned and saw Itachi standing a few meters from her with a few scratches but mostly fine all things considered. She was intrigued by his bizarre abilities and a part of her mind told her that with abilities like those, there was no way he was a new soul.


"Is it illusions?" She asked. "Is that how you slip out of tight spots? Or is it some kind of spatial technique?"


Itachi remained quiet as he held his sword in his hand. 'She's increasing her momentum.' He noted, responding in kind.


Holding his sword forward, he recalled the words Tsukuyomi had said at the end of their first meeting.


"Illuminate, Tsukuyomi. (Terase, Tsukuyomi)"


[A/N: If you have a better Shikai release for Tsukuyomi that follows the same theme, feel free to drop your suggestions.]


What followed Itachi's chant was an upsurge explosion of Reiatsu that not only took Soi Fon by surprise, but also Yoruichi who was closest to him.


The only question in her mind was, "How?"


How had he gotten his Shikai? Did he gain it without any input from a Shinigami? Or was there a second reason that she was missing.


'None of that matters. He somehow unlocked his Shikai on his own.'


"You're really something, Itachi." She said, further increasing the limit of strength she had wanted to use prior to his Shikai.


It wasn't just the Shikai, though it was a defining factor, but also his exoteric techniques and most notably his chant. 'So it really is illusion based.'


This time around, Itachi made the first move that made Yoruichi's eyes widen as he burst into crows and the next instant he was in her face, swinging the shortened blade of his Shikai.


She dodged to the side but noticed cut strands of her hair.


Wanting to press on the attack to reduce Itachi's momentum, she made to move but found out that her legs were stuck inside the ground. "Huh?"


Her surprise became even more apparent as she saw Itachi weave some signs with his hands and sucked in a little air, but the way his Reiatsu bubbled told her that whatever was coming was not little in any way.


"Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"


Her first thought was if this was an illusion, but the bludgeoning heat and the way her instincts screamed told her otherwise.


"Hadō #63: Raikōhō."


The two attacks, a great ball of fire and charging orb of yellow lightning, crashed into each other and exploded, resulting in a camouflage of dust and an intense heat wave that engulfed both Yoruichi and Itachi.


Itachi briefly wondered why she wasn't using her Zanpakutō but quickly disregarded it, only keeping an eye out for its appearance.


Flickering to Yoruichi's side, his sword slashed an arc that she nimbly dodged but not completely as she found a cut on her sleeves. One too close for comfort.


Being the first time Itachi was using Tsukuyomi in combat in death, he was naturally curious in seeing how well the abilities worked against an equal or stronger opponent, and a Captain just so happens to be the best litmus test.


Just like Yoruichi theorized, Itachi's blade, Tsukuyomi, was more of a subterfuge Zanpakutō than an attack-type Zanpakutō as it dealt with illusions around the both of them and also acted as a focus for Itachi's Illusions, whether cast by Itachi or Tsukuyomi itself.


Basically, it was a selective buff-type Zanpakutō.


Knowing she could no longer afford to recklessly play with the fight, Yoruichi rushed at Itachi and punched at him only for his form to fizzle out and a wave of dizziness to hit her that caused her to stumble for a bit but she quickly got her balance in time and parried the kick that came from nowhere.


With the activation of Itachi's Shikai, even if it didn't increase his explosive power all that much, his manipulation over his genjutsus grew to a new milestone.


Is this real… Or is it an illusion?


Just like Tsukuyomi asked him of his inner world, his blade brought a real effect to his illusions and even how it affected people.


And that was what Yoruichi quickly noticed.


'The length, edge, and even the trajectory of his sword are all inconsistent.'


Itachi's illusion over the blade could make it increase its reach and compensate for distance. The sharp edge of the blade could be on any side without the enemy knowing and its travel path could be hidden from the opponent's perception by making them see another attack pattern.


Still wielding her blade, Yoruichi proved a very difficult opponent as she covered herself with her Reiatsu and with an insane level of reactionary speed, she deflected most of Itachi's attack the moment they came an hair's breadth to her skin or clothes.


Itachi had a very hard time reacting to her reaction speed so he changed his tactics. Going in for a blind stab, he had wanted her to retreat given how close they were but Yoruichi surprised him by catching his blade on its flat sides between her elbow and the back of her palms.


Just as she did that, Itachi swelled up and Yoruichi quickly released his blade and reacted with a Kidō spell. "Bakudō #44: Enkōsen."


A spinning shield of condensed Reiatsu formed instantly in front and shielded her from the exploding clone Itachi had substituted with.


"I implore we stop here, Lady Yoruichi." Itachi spoke as the smoke cleared. Anyone could see where the battle was going with how Yoruichi had responded and quickly adapted to Itachi's attacks. "Isn't going this far for someone you have no enmity with a bit tasteless?"


Yoruichi cocked up one of her brows. "Who said we didn't have enmity? I did say I wanted to avenge my subordinate that you scared, right?"


Cracking her neck and a couple of her joints, Yoruichi sighed in content. The only one she could fight against without any regards was Kisuke and his unconventional way of fighting.


The same could be said for Itachi but his was more obscure, making you have a hard time identifying his presence or predicting his next move.


"Trust me, I'm having fun."


Itachi wasn't one to entertain a battle maniac's thirst and from the beginning his objective to retreat has never changed.


The only problem was that Yoruichi gave no respite and if she perceived he was retreating, she would push her offense more until he responded the same.

 

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–––––––


'He's stronger than before.' Soi Fon quickly realized as she watched the display Itachi was putting on against an unrelenting Yoruichi.


Yoruichi's Shunpo within such a small area was no different than teleportation to most people slower than her, and even with those that had mastered the art, keeping up with her was a hard, almost impossible, task.


Itachi expertly used techniques that would ensure a distance between them anytime she stayed too close to him.


What had been an initial surprise to him was how strong she physically was. She specialized in fast and hard hits and was clearly a master of both.


She was stronger than Itachi, of that he had no doubt. Which was why he refrained from clashing with her head on, but she being smart and understanding her advantage pushed on unrelentlessly.


The basis of their fighting was ridiculous, he knew that, she knew that but she didn't care.


So he made his decision.


Slowly and in a spinning pattern, his black eyes rotated and morphed under the astonished and cautious gaze of Yoruichi.


Settling down with the familiar red eyed dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan, a complete 3-tomoe Sharingan sat as Itachi's eyes.


'What kind of eyes are those?' Soi Fon wondered as this was the first time she was seeing eyes like that.


For Yoruichi, her thoughts were different. 'Is that eye part of his Shikai's abilities? Quite a troublesome sword.'


She also noticed how his Reiatsu's presence seemed to stabilize even more, for lack of a better word.


'Better to draw out their gimmicks.' This was such a refreshing activity for Yoruichi. She would never consider herself a battle fanatic, like the lunatics of the Eleventh, or even a very outgoing person seeing as how she would prefer lazing around most of the time, but fighting someone with new and surprising techniques was always a novel thing to experience. And Itachi, as it seems, was someone with extra bags of tricks behind that stoic expression of his.


Brushing his intercepting hand to the side, she lowered her stance and the moment he reached in for another strike, she coiled around it and drove a fast knee to his chin's underside.


"Mm?"


Seeing he blocked her perfect strike, she shifted her focus and landed some rapid blows to disorientate his focus but he perfectly deflected those too.


"Huh?" Something was weird about him now but she could not put her finger on it.


Itachi blinked to her front and started another series of attacks that she equally responded to, even retaliating some blows of her own but just as she deflected his, he also deflected hers.


"What are you doing?" For the first time since meeting, a contemplative frown entered her face. It was weird because it felt as if she was fighting a shadow – her shadow. She smirked, "Heh, you really are something."


The stoic bastard was copying her blocks and deflections, even going as far as copying her counterattack.


This guy was extremely dangerous, Yoruichi concluded but kept the bias to the side. He had dangerous abilities, sure, but so did all the Captains of the Gotei 13.


The flow of the fight changed, not because one took the advantage and pressured the other, but because like Yoruichi said, it became like a fight of shadows.


Itachi didn't wantonly copy her fighting style, an ignorant mistake that most Uchihas made, no. He had copied the parts he needed to patch his own fighting style.


Even as Yoruichi appeared a few centimeters from him, Itachi stepped back but Yoruichi gave no room and punched him, which he blocked or at least tried to.


"Ikkotsu."


The seemingly simple punch that Yoruichi threw snapped both of Itachi's hands to different angles, causing his eyes to widen, and caved his chest in upon contact, destroying the ribs around where her hands landed.


Before the inertia of the punch came into play, Itachi burst into crows that surrounded Yoruichi from all fronts. Before she could force herself out of there, the crows suddenly turned into fireballs and converged on her at once.


As the explosion went on, Yoruichi jumped out, not unscathed at the surprising explosion.


As she made to move forward, the world seemed to spin before her as the sky turned red. Shocked, she looked below and found herself sinking into the ground with all her limbs bound.


She could see the sky getting farther away and a sense of dread came over her as thoughts of what would happen to her if the ground swallowed her permeated her mind.


By the time she shook the irrational fear out of her head, she was already neck deep into the ground.


"This is an illusion, Yoruichi! This is an illusion and you know it!"


She internally screamed at herself and roused her Reiatsu and it surged uncontrollably. At this point, real panic started settling in but she didn't let it take over her mind as she roused her Reiatsu again and again.


This was different from any other past similar cases she's found herself in. Unlike the other instances of Illusions Yoruichi had experienced, this one felt complete – like it was an illusory world made real.


"Aaarghhhh!" With a very haphazardly violent burst of her Reiatsu, the world of red lost its color and paused as it turned monochrome. A second later and glass cracks appeared everywhere before the world shattered and Yoruichi found herself standing in the same spot she had been, with Soi Fon passed out on the ground and Itachi nowhere to be found.


From how there seemed not to be any new movements around her and also the explosion that was still raging, Yoruichi confirmed that only a few moments had passed since he put her inside the illusion.


"Soi Fon." She shook Soi Fon but the girl remained unresponsive, making Yoruichi furrow her brow in concern.


She carefully pushed her Reiatsu into Soi Fon's body and used it to disturb her calm Reiatsu, trying a few times before the girl woke up.


"Lady Yoruichi!" Soi Fon woke up in alarm and only managed to get her breath in order when she saw that Yoruichi was alright.


"What happened, Soi Fon?"


Soi Fon shook her head amidst heavy breaths. "After you escaped the explosion, you suddenly stopped moving like you were in some kind of stasis. I only knew something was wrong with how abnormally dormant your Reiatsu became, but when I jumped down…"


"He trapped you in an illusion too, huh?" Yoruichi frowned as she reviewed the fight in her head. "He's an exceptional fighter and a master tactician to boot. His goal from the beginning has always been to escape but he was likely contemplating how to go about it."


To Yoruichi, this was a very surprising turn of events – losing to someone who was clearly weaker than herself.


'The way he uses his illusions to aid his combat is not a proficiency one can accomplish in months, even with proficient fighting abilities. His way of fighting makes it almost impossible to tell when he's using an illusion and when he's not.'


"What do we do now, Lady Yoruichi?" Soi Fon asked tentatively. She could still feel goosebumps all over her body and a lump in her throat just from remembering the illusion she was trapped.


Taking note of Soi Fon's state, Yoruichi pondered on her next action. "We'll hang out here for a while. If we can't find him after some time, we'll return back to base." She said as she patted her clothes to get rid of the dust and dirt.


…..


After escaping Yoruichi, Itachi hastily put as much distance between them while making sure he didn't leave any tracks.


Luckily for him, he was able to pull her into a rather strong genjutsu before she could do anything. He was both curious and cautious on how genjutsu would work and its effects now that he was casting it in the mind of a soul rather than a human and the result was pretty what he had theorized.


Stronger souls with stronger mental defenses could disable a genjutsu just fine but given how Soi Fon easily succumbed to it, he made a conservative conclusion and set the proficient mental requirements of disabling a genjutsu at the Captain level. Of course there will always be exceptions but Itachi wasn't worried about those.


"… You did good, Tsukuyomi." He said after a while.


"I see." Tsukuyomi's reverberating voice sounded in Itachi's ear. "You didn't utilize much of your genjutsu." It stated.


Itachi nodded. "I was observing its effects and seeing how a strong Shinigami would react to it."


Tsukuyomi gave no other reply as its presence receded into the sword, leaving Itachi once more in silence.


Right now Itachi was at a crossroad.


Here Yoruichi was, a Captain of the Seireitei, offering him access to the place and absolving his crime of killing other Shinigamis, which he wasn't really worried about, and in turn he would join the Shinigamis under her 2nd Division.


He could always leave the Seireitei if he felt it wasn't a place for him, that much he was sure of, but the question now was; then what?


The afterlife wasn't a peaceful place or a haven for reincarnated souls. It was wrought with its own problems.


No, the question was what does Itachi Uchiha want to do in his death?

 

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–––––––


Yoruichi tapped her feet anxiously against the ground as she waited for Kisuke to pick up. She knew the airhead wouldn't pay much attention to his personal pager since he no doubt has little to no use for it given all his important notices are given to him directly from the Captain Commander or to his hell butterfly.


After what felt like minutes, the pager beeped and showed a visual of Kisuke who had huge bags under his eyes.


Yoruichi didn't mention anything about the bags, acting like she didn't see it, not that she had managed to get a word in before he opened his mouth.


"Hmm, Yoruichi?" Kisuke bent his head sideways as if to check her surroundings in a wider range. "You couldn't find him? Or did you play with your food and mistakenly killed him?"


The embarrassment she felt at those questions, from Kisuke no less, made her feel even worse.


"He ran away." She gritted out.


Behind her Soi Fon had her head at the ground, feeling twice the embarrassment her Captain felt seeing as how she failed to even do anything – twice.


She had rushed in with emotions too high to think clearly and fell to the illusions so easily that she didn't even know when she put in one.


The man was an anomaly. A very dangerous one.


"He ran away?" Kisuke looked at both of them incredulously. "Am I that sleepy that it's affecting my ears? No, I don't think so. Maybe it's the signal. Or maybe…." He then started mumbling incoherently to himself.


Yoruichi groaned, regretting the fact that he was not at arm's length so that she could hit him across that dome of his. "He got the slip on us and bolted."


A hint of seriousness slithered into Kisuke's face as Yoruichi said that. Of course he knew how playful Yoruichi could be sometimes, but he also knew just how difficult running away from her could be. It wasn't impossible, but was hellishly difficult.


"He's figured out his Shikai release; it's an illusion-based Zanpakutō."


"Hmm, those are very rare and generally not that strong, but tricky to deal with nonetheless." Kisuke commented. "So he got the jump on you, both of you, with an illusion?"


Yoruichi scratched the back of her head irritatedly. "Basically. His Shikai aside, he's a very tricky one to deal with. Subterfuge, distraction, camouflage, tracking, covering his tracks, deflections – he was no doubt a very skilled warrior and assassin during his life."


Now fully seated and staring directly at Yoruichi, Kisuke's heavy eyes hidden under his front bangs were squinted at her. "That's too much of a compliment, Yoruichi. You're going to make your dear Lieutenant very jealous if you continue."


"You! Mind your own business, damnit!" Soi Fon immediately lashed out, something she would never do to any other Captain. In her eyes, Kisuke was just a lazy slouch, a slightly competent one, who got promoted to Captain because Lady Yoruichi brought his name up to the Captain.


Yoruichi waves off their bicker and gives Kisuke a brief narration of what happened during her fight with Itachi.


"That's interesting. His eyes aside, these exoteric Kidō spells you mentioned he did have already piqued my interest. Want me to come over?" He scratched his stubble, eyes almost gleaming at the prospect of learning new Kidō spells. "I agree with you that all those techniques couldn't have possibly being his Shikai abilities, but from what I understand from what you've told me, his illusions would be a problem?"


"Yes. I have no idea when it affected me or it's activation requirements. Being caught off guard by it again could prove fatal."


Normally, she never would have called Kisuke for a help on a mission she could easily handle, but those illusions were tricky. Even with her Reiatsu control, it was hard for her to track Itachi's sword movements.


"I think there are some information about illusion-type Zanpakutōs in the archives. I'll call you if I find something useful." He said, pondering over the few options he had. "I guess I'll be pushing my sleep back. I should have Hiyori clean up my office." He kept mumbling even as the intermission was cut off from Yoruichi's side.


"Lady Yoruichi? Wouldn't it be wiser to just knock him out quickly and take him with us back to base?"


With her speed that topped Itachi's, knocking him out quickly before his illusion takes effect was easy for Yoruichi but she didn't, why?


"Taking him back to the Soul Society forcefully will do neither of us any good." She knew people like Itachi. Trying to force him to serve under her was akin to spreading nails in her backyard and expecting never to step on one.


Still, the question remained – why did Yoruichi even care about recruiting Itachi?


For talent? She's never fought for any of the geniuses that graduated from the Shin'ō Academy. Not even making an effort to recruit the ones proficient with her division.


Uniqueness? That was even more untrue. Yoruichi, as an extremely carefree person, very much preferred the mundane and dull settings in places and people than any level of uniqueness they might have.


No matter how hard Soi Fon thought on it, all she could speculate on Yoruichi's reasons were blanks.


She could ask, quite easily, but she refrained from doing so. If she were to ask for answers on every single thing, how would she learn on her own?


"Let's go, Soi Fon. We have a crafty one to catch."


She twisted her shoulders to get a few knots out before leaping in search of Itachi.


…..


[Itachi Uchiha POV]


'She's started tracking me down.' I frowned at the feedback from one of my clones.


She somehow was able to pinpoint my general direction and give how she slowed down for a bit when she passed the clone, it could be that she's tracking me with something else.


This Shinigami Captain, Yoruichi Shihōin, is even more eccentric than the man from before. For one thing, she didn't carry a Zanpakutō like the other Shinigamis I've seen. Hidden weapons yes, but no Zanpakutō.


Another thing is her speed and strength.


While there's a certain pride everyone has in their abilities, me included, I would, without any bias, class myself as one of those with impressive speed that keeping up with opponents faster than me is never an issue.


While she's not the fastest person I've seen, as that would be the Lord Fourth, she definitely the fastest I've ever had to keep up with. It felt like trying to keep up with Shisui and that is a comparison that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.


It was never a part of my plan but at least that fight did serve a good use to judge how effective my Sharingan makes me. Escaping a Captain should be no issue, as long as their peculiarities are something I can react to.


"I can't use a jutsu to throw them off if they're using something to track me, then I'll improvise."


Stopping at a tree, I weaved small amounts of Reiatsu through my fingers and drew a simple pattern on it.


Basic seals like these are something every ninja from Chunin upwards are required to learn.


The most use you can get from them is trap formation, but in a world of ninjas, trap formations are the number one thing to look out for when in unknown terrains.


…..


Soi Fon climbed to the highest vantage point she could see and took a look around to see if she could pick up anything in the distance, but so far nothing.


He was good at hiding his tracks – too good in fact that even the Captain of the Stealth Force was having a hard time picking up a trail.


This was the third time that they fell for his diversions. Diversions that they couldn't see even after falling for it.


"I told you he's good. He's steadily making us doubtful of which direction he is taking and if not for the last one, I would have thought that we were going in the wrong direction."


Soi Fon agreed. They had to use Yoruichi's tracking skills in conjunction with the device she borrowed from Kisuke to point out a general direction that even they were doubtful of.


"His anti-tracking techniques are like the ones we use in the Division." She said.


Yoruichi let out a soft hum as they ran side by side. "Not just his anti-tracking, even his fighting style and movement technique bear similarities to the way the Stealth Corp utilize Hakuda, Zanjutsu and Shunpo. It's the same principle, but entirely different way of utilization."


If Itachi could see through some of her techniques, of course she could see through his.


If she had to say it, apart from the Captain Commander's Lieutenant Sasakibe and Captain Shunsui's Lieutenant Kaien, she didn't see any of them topping Itachi in combat master. Even when they had Kidō, he had his own techniques to counter.


Now why was she keen on finding him once again?


Others would go into an evaluation of her character and the weird change she was displaying since looking, but if anyone was to ask Yoruichi, or even Kisuke for that matter, the answer they would give is simple:


'She's just bored. Nothing else.'

 

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–––––––


Night came and Itachi had long since shaken his pursuers from his trail, but he didn't slow down even when he came across another village.


He had no doubt that they would be looking for him throughout the night and since he could forego sleep for days, he saw no reason to slow his advance and risk them gaining on him.


Since he figured they were tracking the quadrant of his general direction, he kept his utilization of Reiatsu to the barest minimum, just enough for his movement and he was good.


Unfortunately for him, had it been anybody else in the Soul Society, he would have long since shaken them off in the first few minutes he left.


Stopping at the edge of a cliff, Itachi looked at the wide expanse before him and opted to slow down. He doubted he would come across Shinigamis but one couldn't be too careful.


With his Sharingan being able to scan for energy signatures, Itachi safely navigate his way through the night until morning came, followed by the problem.


……


Knowing he was free from Yoruichi's and Soi Fon's persistent pursuit, Itachi finally slowed down to a walk because he knew keeping up with the same speed would make his blitz past the Districts and arrive near Soul Society faster than he initially wants to.


Throughout the night, Yoruichi's proposal came to his mind. He had not been lying when he said he would think about it and give her an answer if they were to meet again.


Maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, Itachi longed for the Soul Society to have some semblance of the Hidden Leaf Village. No, not longed. Hoped.


But knowing how murky the waters of his origin village was, Itachi wasn't so keen on seeing a replica of the Leaf Village.


It was during his journey that he came across something interesting.


A Hollow hording the corpses of dead Shinigamis.


What actually drew his attention to this particular Hollow was how bereft of Reiatsu this Hollow actually was. It was so faint that it was almost perfectly melded with the energy in the atmosphere.


He had only been able to pick it up when he was scanning ahead for any Shinigami Reiatsu with his Sharingan.


Naturally he trailed the surprisingly inconspicuous Hollow through crevices and tunnels, back to its hidden place – or more aptly, storage room.


Inside the underground safe house, Itachi counted five dead Shinigamis, obviously the ones before these had already been eaten. With him being mostly ignorant of Hollows and how they acted, he settled for watching it for some time instead of just killing it, but no matter how he watched, all he could conclude, other than the Hollow's strangely silent behavior, was that this was a storeroom.


A storeroom, but not one for the Hollow.


With how the Hollow was drooling at the Shinigamis but didn't make a single move towards them, it couldn't be more clear that this place wasn't the Hollow's.


'Maybe another one. A stronger one.'


The Hollow was half the size of an average man, a very thin stature, and two faces on both sides of its body. At first sight, it was an unremarkable and weak Hollow with a body built for stealth and retrieval, which was clearly what it was tasked with.


Taking a risk, and also to gauge its senses, a part of Itachi's cloak billowed softly as it broke off and turned into a crow.


'Watch it.'


After giving the crow its orders, the two of them faded into the shadows, one hiding while the other popped away with the release of the Shadow Clone technique.


2 km away sat Itachi, the real one, with two of his fingers crossed over one of his eyes, watching the Hollow through the crow's eyes.


"It doesn't feel that simple." He muttered as he stood up. The Hollow's presence felt too thin, so thin that his Sharingan would have missed it if he wasn't so attuned with it.


The Hollow's strange behavior piqued Itachi's interest so he started keeping an eye out for anything strange, Shinigamis and Hollows alike, since it was clear that Hollow wasn't working alone.


It was likely that it had killed those Shinigamis but the fact that it refrained from eating them directly despite its hunger pointed out that there was a stronger Hollow nearby.


Itachi looked behind him, briefly wondering if he should use this as a transaction of favors with the Captain on his tail.


"We'll have to cross paths again for that."


Oh, he knew they'll cross paths again because the Captain, Yoruichi, was just that good, and he knew that he'd still be able to shake them off because he wasn't that incompetent.


With the strange Hollow now in his mind, Itachi set his sights on the next group of Shinigamis he'll come across and he did so after a few hours of traveling.


This was a much smaller cell of just three Shinigamis, perfect for anybody with a certain level of competence to sneak on. Given how unremarkable they looked, which he could tell with a simple glance, a perfect ambush was all that was needed to silently do away with them.


Going closer, he decided to listen to them since it seems that apart from their average strength, they were also chatty.


"Seriously, there's nothing this far out! The Captains are getting worried for nothing." One of the chubby Shinigamis grumbled.


The one at the front, the leader of this small group, softly chided his teammate without any heat in his words. "We've lost contact with three patrol groups, I think it warrants an investigation."


The chubby disgruntled Shinigami still wasn't convinced, or placated. "If it's an investigation, then shouldn't the team be bigger that just us three?"


The last member, the only female in their group sighed, finally fed with her companion's complaints. "Seriously? We've been here just two days and you're whining this much? Can't you save it for when we get back to the barrack?"


"Easy for you to say. Unfortunately, not all of us are as good as you are in Kidō."


"Speak for yourself."


Not bothering to listen any further to their whining, Itachi made another clone and had it keep an eye on them.


One thing he noticed however was that this group of Shinigamis was traveling in the direction he was coming from. Which meant that in an hour at most, they'll pass by the location where the Hollow was hiding.


Of course he noted how weird the coincidence was but he didn't put any mind to it, at least that was until they were a few hundred meters away from its general location.


Almost as if it was sensing them, the Hollow immediately roused itself from it drooling and started making its way towards the surface.


From the eyes of the crow keeping tabs on the Hollow, Itachi knew that there was no precursor indication that should've alerted it of the presence of the approaching Shinigami.


"Interesting." He said to himself, hiding away from both parties while keeping a close eye on them.


By the time the Hollows made its way to the surface, the Shinigamis were just a few feet away from where it'll pop out, yet they couldn't sense its presence.


Seeing the Hollow hiding its thin body between the crevice of two rocks, so close to the Shinigamis, Itachi watched closely how it would attempt to kill them; though he had no thoughts of letting them die.


He reasoned he could use the favor of keeping them alive to get Lady Yoruichi to answer a few of his questions, and also gauge the Captain's stance on the value of the life of her Shinigami comrades.


'Toxins.' He noted as he saw the tips of the Hollows fingers glistening as it started secreting little amounts of liquid.


Slowly, he focused his gaze on the leader of the group and as if reacting to his gaze, the leader, just a feet away from the hiding Hollow, abruptly turned around as he felt goosebumps on his skin.


Two pairs of eyes met in silence.


Seeing it had been found out, the Hollow pounced on the stunned man, only for it to dodge a sword swing aimed at its waist.


"Hollow!" The man finally got his voice back and screamed even though his companions were already aware.


"We can see that, idiot!" The chubby man shouted out in panic at the man he just narrowly saved. How he could react that fast, he had no idea.


Unfortunately for them, the last woman in their cell remained unresponsive, not moving or talking despite what they were facing.


"Hey, bitch mov-" Their eyes widened in horror as they saw her standing frozen with her eyes staring down at what they were all staring at.


A needle piercing into her chest.


It's attack wasn't just at the first man, they understood. It had tried taking out two people at once upon its presence being discovered, unfortunately they all missed the detached finger that shot at their last companion who was now paralyzed on her feet and having a hard time breathing.

 

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–––––––


Yoruichi and Soi Fon had spent the whole night tracking Itachi, with the former using this as a prime time to teach her Lieutenant some of her advanced tracking skills, not managing to catch up to him even as the morning came.


The information Yoruichi got from Kisuke wasn't conclusive as each Zanpakutō was different and even if they were of the same type, their mode of application was different. But this didn't phase Yoruichi one bit. At the end of the day, Itachi was just another soul with a troublesome Zanpakutō, just like a lot of Shinigamis in the Seireitei.


"Un, are you sure we're going in the right direction, Yoruichi-sama?" Soi Fon slowly asked, understandably so since they have yet to come across anything that gave them assurance that their course was correct.


Yoruichi laughed a little. "Trust me, Soi Fon. That brat might be good but it isn't that easy to deceive me."


It had taken her a bit of time to realize that the little clues they had been picking up from Itachi's trail were slowly changing their general direction. Itachi knew that they were tracing him and so he gave them a trail, one that started leading them astray after they had gotten comfortable tracking it.


"Let's hurry up a bit, Soi Fon. I'm sure we'll catch him before the day runs out." She said and pushed ahead.


Though she was slightly wound up, Soi Fon didn't let out any complaints and increased her speed to match Yoruichi's.


…..


[General POV: With Itachi]


He knew the three of them wouldn't last a minute against the Hollow, and not because the Hollow was strong but because of its abilities.


Looking at the woman who was finding it harder to breathe with every ticking second made it clear just how potent its paralytic toxins are.


He was convinced there was something wrong with this Hollow, but now his priorities were different.


He had no bargaining rights if he blatantly opposed the Shinigamis, he was aware of that, so this was something to test the surface of the people he might have to deal with if cooperation fell through.


He would have preferred to watch for longer but given how weak these Shinigamis were, he had to tell himself to act.


Letting his presence known, the Hollow was the first to notice him and faltered for a brief moment at the arrival of an unaccounted variable – a bad move.


All it saw was blurs at different positions before a searing pain ran through his body as it felt a sword being thrust through the Hollow mask on its back that failed to catch when Itachi appeared behind him.


It tried to screech in pain, wriggle violently, or even attack its attacker out of reflex, only to find itself frozen just like the girl he paralyzed


Itachi stared apathetically as the Hollow faded out of existence upon having its mask broken.


Turning towards the two stunned Shinigamis who flinched under his eyes, he ignored the shaking swords pointing at him and walked towards the woman whose insides were on the verge of exploding as her Reiatsu ran amok inside her body.


"G-get away from her!" The leader shouted, yet he didn't move a step to help her.


Itachi pulled out the Hollow's finger from her chest and used his eyes to scan her body of pressure points to expel the rampaging Reiatsu.


'Here, here and here.' He thought as he poked three points on her body, two on her chest and one on her left wrist, and watched as she fell to the ground with his breaths finally stabilizing.


"Mika!"


The two Shinigamis ran to their companion after Itachi moved away, breathing in relief after confirming that she wasn't dead. Especially with the way Itachi had forcefully expelled her Reiatsu.


"Thank you, for helping us kill that Hollow and also saving our friend. I'm Arato Shigune, 8th Division's Ninth Seat. That's Kujo and Mika." The leader introduced himself and his companions and Itachi nodded and returned the question.


"Itachi." He simply said.


"Forgive me for asking, but which Division are you from? I'm sorry, but I don't seem to remember you." Arato said awkwardly. Of course he didn't know every Shinigami in Soul Society but at least he should have a basic recollection of them, especially given how strong Itachi seemed to be.


"Not a Shinigami." Was all Itachi said as he took a seat on a rock and closed his eyes.


Arato and the chubby Kujo were genuinely surprised at Itachi's admission of not being a Shinigami but they kept quiet about it.


It doesn't take a genius to know that Itachi was stronger than them and if he truly wasn't a Shinigami, he could kill them if he wanted and no one would ever know it was him.


They could only awkwardly stand there as Itachi paid them no mind with his mind closed.


Arato was about to send a message back to his Lieutenant when Itachi finally spoke up, but not at them it seemed.


"Since you're already here, why bother hiding?"


"What happened here?"


Arato yelped in surprise as he saw Yoruichi and Soi Fon suddenly appearing a foot from where Mika was laying down.


"Captain Yoruichi!" After the brief shock, Arato and Kujo stood ramrod at attention in salute to Yoruichi who ignored the greeting.


"What happened here?" She asked again and this time stared at Arato who quickly explained what had transpired.


"I see." Was her only reply to the nervously sweating Arato's explanation. She turned to Itachi who still had his eyes closed and regarded him with a raised brow. "And here I thought you would have disappeared by now."


"As long as you let me be." Itachi succinctly replied, and continued before Yoruichi or Soi Fon could get an answer in. "Follow me."


Seeing Itachi leaving, Soi Fon and the other Shinigamis turned to Yoruichi to see her decision and only when she nodded did they made to move.


"Don't worry. Stay here with her, I'll go see what he's up to." Yoruichi said to Arato before leaving with Soi Fon.


Following Itachi's lead, the two ladies wore unsure expressions as he led them through the tight spaces that led underground.


"What the hell is this place?" Yoruichi asked, all traces of playful casualness gone from her face.


She saw the five dead bodies of Shinigamis in the underground cave and even the tattered remains of Shinigami shihakushō scattered around the cave.


"It isn't that hard to hazard a guess."


"And why show me this?" Yoruichi turned to Itachi, cold eyes peering into colder eyes. "What do you want?"


"Nothing substantial. Just for you Shinigamis to leave me alone." What he meant was for them to move past the fact that he did kill some Shinigamis and Yoruichi understood which was why her eyes squinted at him.


"No problem, but know this. If you come to the Seireitei, you'll have to be extensively interrogated for your possession of a Zanpakutō. Central 46 can be a bunch of annoying bugs if they want to be." She said. "You might even have your Zanpakutō sealed for some time if they are feeling real petty."


To Itachi's credit, he didn't react at all to Yoruichi's words. As much as he abhorred it, he knew politics were an integral part of any functioning society. His only thoughts were if the politics of the Seireitei were something he could stomach for long.


"I'll be waiting for you up ahead."


They watched as Itachi left, both taking a minute to take in the state of the bodies and the cave.


"Do you think we can trust him, Yoruichi-sama?" Soi Fon asked as they made their way to the surface.


Yoruichi snorted. "Of course not. Better this way as we can keep a watchful eye on him. If he ends up trustworthy then good for us."


"And if he doesn't?"


"Then it'll be easier to deal with him." Yoruichi answered.


They saw Itachi sitting on the same rock he had been sitting on when they arrived. Yoruichi then gave her orders to Soi Fon and the others.


"Soi Fon, you stay here and wait for those from the 2nd. As for you, go back and report to your Captain."


Itachi opened his eyes as he felt they were alone, with Soi Fon below and the others gone, finally regarding Yoruichi.


He saw her giving him an appraising stare but just closed his eyes back.


Seeing Itachi's actions, Yoruichi gave him a serious warning.


"If this is some harebrained plan of yours, then I'll suggest you give it up. I won't forgive you if you break the trust of my goodwill."


Hearing her words, Itachi stood up and started walking away, slowly speaking as he did. "Trust means nothing if the basis for it is shallow."


"We'll see." Yoruichi replied, disappearing as she did, and so did Itachi a moment later.

 

[QuackVader]

A/N: Serious question though; how do Shinigami travel the Seireitei? Do they run to each end or do they have some kind of portal/shortcut? I have no idea and google isn't helping.


############################


The two of them drew ever so close to the Seireitei and throughout their whole journey, Itachi kept thinking if the choice he made was a good one.


Unlike the Elemental Nations where he had basic knowledge of the state of the military force of each of the Hidden Villages, he felt truly blind here in the Soul Society – so he needed an in.


Yes, he long entertained the idea of infiltrating the Soul Society but he had to leave that as a last resort/desperate move after his two run-ins with the Shinigami Captains.


He was confident in himself no doubt, but having to face 13 Captains who would be roughly on the same level as him were not odds he saw himself winning.


As for having his Mangekyō, while it might make his chances of a successful infiltration higher, the result would still be the same if he was to be found out.


During their journey, he asked Yoruichi a few questions, not pressing ones but still important, and she made sure to give him the barest minimum of any answer she could afford.


They knew the type of person the other was and giving Itachi straight answers was the same as giving him an extensive report. Yoruichi knew that.


"Assassination or military?" Yoruichi suddenly asked.


"…"


"I'm asking which were you?" She expounded. "You don't strike me as the rogue type, definitely not a mercenary, so which were you?"


Itachi looked at her as they traveled side by side, "Rogue."


Yoruichi chuckled. She could sense a story there but she didn't ask. 'There'll be more than enough time to air his pants once he gets settled in.'


To her, this whole thing was a mishmash of irony and amusement; kinda like picking up a stray cat(Itachi) and bringing it to a new home.


"We'll be going straight to the Head Commander once we get there – follow me and say nothing." She ordered but then paused and looked at Itachi whose face bore an impassiveness as if he didn't hear her. "… Or I guess just be you, that also works."


She directed a subtle glance at Itachi, hiding the amazement that she was feeling. Throughout their journey, the two of them were playing a subtle game to gauge as much information as they could from the other.


The only caveat to this little game was for the other party to know what type of test they were being put through and the nature of the ongoing test to facilitate the degree of the response they were to give.


On Itachi's part, he had tested her on her senses to the environment and Reiatsu, the range, her reaction and even first instinct.


'And this brat is still testing me.' Yoruichi mused, half annoyed and half gratified.


Of course she wouldn't just let him have his way and not respond in kind.


The same way and facets he tested her on was the same thing she tested him on in her own way. Also his emotional spectrum and first thought response, along with his speed – which was what made her very surprised.


'He's not just capable of short burst speed but can also maintain it for long distances with a balanced pace. Just short of his Kidō mastery and Bankai and he'll be Captain level easily. Monster!'


She didn't let her thoughts show and just led him along, drawing ever closer to the Seireimon, Gates of the Seireitei.


"Mind telling me what your life was like? Just small talk, nothing serious." Yoruichi tried again, this time genuine in his request.


Itachi looked over at the purple haired Captain, briefly wondering when last he was ever in such a situation where a stranger would be this frivolous with him even after hearing his name.


'Well she isn't trying to run away or kill me on sight, so that too is a first.' The former rogue ninja thought.


For once, he needed to think in a way that was free from his past influence as he thought of an answer to his question. He didn't have to answer, he was brought up and trained that way, but that wasn't the case. The question he was plagued with was if he should answer in the first place.


"Damn brat, you've got a lot of garbage. It's gonna be annoying as hell to pull that out of your ass. Don't worry, take your time." Offered Yoruichi with an out. This wasn't the first time she's seen someone like this in her long life. It was a normal trait of people brought up and fermented in hard times and tragedies. 'Or war.'


"We are almost at the Northern gates, let's hurry up." She said all of a sudden and disappeared out of itachi's range.


"Truly, she's fast." He lightly commented and disappeared in an increasing burst of speed, quickly catching up to Yoruichi who had a knowing smirk on her face.


From afar, Itachi saw the pure white walls and heavy gates, along with the faint thrumming of some type of Reiatsu that covered the gate's surface.


There was a giant gatekeeper there but he had no idea when they passed through the gates.


Immediately as he entered the Seireitei, Itachi felt the soft charging of the energy in the air. No doubt, this place had a lot of strong people. He cast a cursory glance over the Seireitei, quickly noting the demarcations that divided the Seireitei into rings.


"That's where we're going. The Head Commander's 1st Division of the Gotei 13." Yoruichi pointed her fingers at the innermost part of the Seireitei and for where they stood, Itachi could make out the tall building in the distance with what seemed to be a written kanji on its walls.


They jumped onto the roof of the surrounding buildings, making large strides and drawing closer to the office of the 1st Division's headquarters.


Slowing down to a stop, Yoruichi led Itachi through the long hall, leading the both of them directly to Head Commander's and the Founder of the Gotei 13 office.


"Come in." An old gruff voice sounded out from behind the tall door, followed by a banging sound.


The doors opened on their own and the two of them stepped in.


On the far end of the room, sitting on a chair while holding forward a wooden cane, was the venerated leader of the Shinigami, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain of the Gotei 13 1st Division.


Before Yamamoto stood 11 individuals standing on opposite sides with a calm air around them, relaxed stature born out of a confidence of power.


Judging from the white haori they all wore, Itachi didn't have to be a genius to note that at this moment, gathered before him, was the 13 Captains, figureheads of the Shinigami.


"Oh, would you look at that? That's a face I wasn't expecting to see in this meeting."


All eyes in the room trailed to the source of the laid back voice of Isshin Shiba who looked genuinely surprised on seeing Itachi.


"Oh? Seems you know the fella, Isshin. Mind clueing the rest of us in?" A long blonde haired man, Hirako Shinji – Captain of the 5th Division, spoke out.


Before any of them could come up with another answer or question, Yamamoto once again banged his cane on the ground and brought the room back to silence.


"Captain Shihōin, who is that with you and tell us why you have called for this meeting." He spoke.


Itachi, since the beginning, was taking note of everyone in the room.


From those on the left side; the long curly blonde Captain of the 3rd Division, Rōjurō Ōtoribashi, the black haired woman with a neutral face, Captain of 4th Division, Retsu Unohana.


Following Unohana was Hirako Shinji and following him was Isshin Shiba, and besides him was a pale white haired man, Jushirō Ukitake, Captain of the 13th Division.


On the right hand side was an old man with a white scarf around his neck, oozing composure and nobility, Ginrei Kuchiki, Captain of the 6th Division.


Besides him was a man sporting an afro and wearing sunglasses, Love Aikawa, Captain of the 7th Division. Following Love was a man wearing a straw hat with a sakura-printed kimono over his haori, Shunsui Kyōraku, Captain of the 8th Division.


After Shunsui was Kensei Mugurama, Captain of the 9th Division, a short haired and stout looking man with a rigid expression on his face, and following him was a man with braided spiked hair with bells at each end. Sporting a feral grin, an eyepatch on his right eye, and a long scar over his left eye, was Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the 11th Division.


… And Itachi immediately saw a splitting image of Kisame in him.


The last person was a shaggy blonde man standing hunched back with most tired expression in the room, Kisuke Urahara, Captain of the 12th Division


####################=######


A/N: In case it isn't clear by now, the current timeline is 100+ before the canon plot timeline. How accurate, now that's harder to say. I'll say between 120 – 100 years before Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper.

 

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–––––––


The feral, unabated bloodthirsty air surrounding the 11th Division Captain was something that spurred a mental image of Itachi's former companion during his Akatsuki days, Kisame Hoshigaki.


Maybe with a little bit of Hidan too, without his religious fanaticism.


Even with all of them having their Reiatsu under perfect control, apart from Zaraki Kenpachi who was having his barely restrained Reiatsu billowing over him, it was easy to tell that each and every single individual here were strong, though a few specific people caught Itachi's attention more than the others.


"Ah yes, that's why we're here." Yoruichi began, standing in the middle of the two last Captains, facing Yamamoto. "This is Itachi Uchiha, from North Rukongai 69th District, a recently reincarnated soul barely having spent over a year in the Soul Society-"


"Mind getting on with it? I wasn't dragged here for a report, was I?" An irritated Kenpachi interrupted Yoruichi with a frown on his face.


Yoruichi paused, gave him a look, and then turned back to Yamamoto. "He's the one Captain Shiba encountered during his last mission scouting in the Rukongai."


"That's him?" Hirato Shinji asked, scratching his head confusedly. "I heard he killed some of Captain Shiba's squad members. If this is a trial, why not just toss him to Central 46?"


Yamamoto had his calm eyes trained on both Yoruichi and Itachi, more the latter than the former. "Captain Shihōin, tell us why you brought him here with you."


Shunsui Kyōraku tilted his straw hat downwards so that it covered his eyes, muttering in realization to himself. "Well, here we go."


"Easy. I brought him here so that the charges against him will be dropped and I plan to bring him into my Division."


A pin drop silence enveloped the hall as some of the Captains were stunned speechless, some held their head down, shaking it in Yoruichi's daring request, while one just grinned.


"Captain Shihōin," Yamamoto started, the air of the room suddenly turned stifling. "Did you just request that the Seireitei waive off the charges against a ryoka for killing fellow Shinigami in order for you to let him into your Division?" He asked slowly.


Despite the pressure that was coming off Yamamoto, Yoruichi stood her ground unfazed, so also did Itachi, something which caught all the Captain's attention.


"Yes, that's basically what I want. In his defense, he was unaware of the situation given how recent he arrived in the Soul Society. Captain Shiba can confirm this." Yoruichi's response resulted in a surprised 'Eh?' from Isshin who didn't expect him to be called in defense of Itachi.


"Captain Shiba, is that true?" Yamamoto turned to Isshin who was cursing Yoruichi's carefreeness in his head.


Seeing all the attention once more focused on him, Isshin looked at Itachi and Yoruichi, somehow taken aback by how calm Itachi was. Something he knew wasn't a mask but was instead the boy's mental state.


Cursing himself along Yoruichi, he nodded. "I can affirm that what Captain Shihōin said is true." He answered in support of Itachi. "When we first met, he did introduce himself and give a brief summary of his situation but the fight broke out after he refused to sheathe his weapon and come with us."


Honestly, Itachi was surprised that Isshin would speak in his favor given how he had killed a few of his subordinates. His initial thoughts on the man were not enough to draw a conclusion of his character that Itachi could trust.


"Not only that, but he's been hunting Hollows and bandits during his days in the Soul Society from the reports I had my own people dig up. Not to mention with the latest information I'm sure Captain Kyōraku received he also saved three members of his squad from a Hollow attack that would have killed them, I verified that myself."


Yoruichi shared the information she had on Itachi with the other Captains, especially the hiding ground where the dead bodies of five Shinigamis were found.


'She dug up most of my actions from the 69th District till recent.' Itachi thought, surprised that she was able to find out that much given the few people he's had contact with for a year. Even when he entered any settlement or village, the number of contact he had with the people there never exceeded two.


"That's quite the report, Captain Shihōin." Yamamoto commented after listening to all that Yoruichi had in defense of Itachi. It wasn't just Yamamoto that was surprised at Yoruichi's change in character from being laid back as she normally was.


"That's my job, Head Captain. And I'm good at my job." She smirked.


Yamamoto sighed. "As true as those words are, there are still a few things left to confirm. You, Itachi Uchiha, mind explaining how you came in possession of a Zanpakutō, and not just that, but also unlocked its Shikai state?"


Apart from Isshin who had suspected it and Kisuke who was aware of it, Yoruichi had made no mention of Itachi's combat abilities yet so none of the Captains thought he had unlocked a Shikai.


Regardless of when he unlocked it, the fact that he achieved his Shikai in months of him arriving in the Soul Society made it clear how talented he was.


Yoruichi looked wryly at Yamamoto and ended up shrugging. "I've done my best, brat. Try not to mess up my hard work, okay?" She said to Itachi as she left to stand on the right hand side besides Kisuke.


"I picked it up from the body of a dead Shinigami after a Hollow incident I came across in the 67th District. Following that, I observed the Shinigamis I came across as I made my way down the Rukongai and that clued me in on the fact that the sword was more than just a mundane weapon. Also with the fact that it seems to passively meld itself with my energy. I only achieved the Shikai after my fight with Captain Shiba after understanding what it was."


He told them what he knew and what he did during his time in the Rukongai Districts. Since these Captains weren't outright overbearing, he figured it'd be against his better interests if he wasn't honest. Not like there was anything of value in his daily life.


The only thing he kept to himself was his Shikai abilities and his eyes, silently thankful that Yoruichi didn't bring it up.


"Oi, you said you fought a Captain, killed his subordinates and still managed to escape while not having that Shikai thing?" Kenpachi asked with a happy grin on his face. "Hey, old man. Let me fight him, if he dies then he isn't worth our attention, if he doesn't… Well, we'll continue fighting until one of us drops. That's better than this boring talk, right?!"


A soft snort interrupted Kenpachi's impassioned plea. "Why not let the Head Captain give his decisions before you try to satisfy your vain desire." Ginrei Kuchiki calmly chided the brute, Kenpachi.


"Huh? What are you on, damned twig? Keep being silent or I'll come over and help you do that… permanently, this time." Kenpachi snarled at the elegantly looking old man who didn't bother to deign him a response.


Now wasn't that another surprise? Escaping a Captain using his Shikai while not having one.


"From what my Zanpakutō's spirit told me, this sword is its permanent home so I'm sorry, but if your words revolve around me handing it over, I won't." Itachi said, looking at Yamamoto.


He knew that if it were to come to a fight, it was virtually impossible for him to escape the encirclement especially when he didn't have his Mangekyō's Amaterasu and Susano'o, but that didn't mean he would let them just take away a part of his soul without fighting for it.


Yoruichi palmed her head while Kisuke snickered beside her as all the Captains were now staring at Itachi with a cold expression at his words that could be construed as a direct challenge.


"It will do you good to not be so confrontational with your words, young man. It can get scary real fast for you. Just a friendly advice." Shunsui said while tilting his hat a little higher to cross his eyes with Itachi's.


Itachi received his look, held it for a second before turning back to Yamamoto to know what the man had to say.


It needed no saying that the person Itachi felt the most powerful momentum from was the old man sitting down. It honestly reminded him of the Leaf's Lord Third.


"The youthful brashness children display is something I'll never get over." Yamamoto said, and it could've just been Itachi's perception, but he could see flickers of flame trickling at the man's feet. "That aside, there are a lot of complications involved with your acceptance into the Gotei 13. And the only reason why this is being considered is because of a reputable Captain deciding to stand in defense of you. As such, you'll have to answer a few of my questions."

 

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The weight of the atmosphere inside this large room thickened exponentially that all the frivolity present in some of the Captain's faces were wiped away, but yet Itachi didn't buckle under it or look as if it was affecting him, still having that calm neutrality on his face, never shifting.


"Did you come here of your own will or did Captain Shihōin capture you and bring you here?"


Facing Yamamoto's first question, Itachi didn't hesitate to answer. It also helped that he was dealing with a straightforward person. "My plan since waking up has always been to come to here and upon meeting Captain Yoruichi who offered a much more easier way than infiltrating it, I decided to follow her."


Itachi's answer threw some of the Captain's into a loop. Some of them wondered why Itachi would say something like that and possibly heap suspicion onto him, not just from the Head Captain but all of them as well.


On the other hand, Itachi knew that unlike the panel of Captains here, the person he had to convince was the Head Captain and only the Head Captain. Not the Captains and not the Central 46 governing body they had made a few mention of.


Even if he was on the back foot power wise, Itachi has never once doubted his senses and instincts. He was sure he had a comfortable read on Yamamoto's character.


'He has the momentum of Lord Third, but he's more like him… Danzo Shimura.'


With this template established, all he had to do was find the line and know when to toe it and when to keep away from it.


Just because he preferred small and straightforward talks didn't mean he couldn't lie or wasn't cunning enough. He had those in spades and more.


"Hmm… I see. And now that you're here, pray tell; what are you going to do now?"


"Learn about the Hollows and the Shinigamis. I never expected the afterlife to be like this. All I want is to be sufficiently knowledgeable of this new world around me." He told everyone. Unlike the simple decisions that these were, for Itachi he had to spend a lot of time to come to these as his choices of action.


He had to constantly remind himself that he wasn't on an undercover mission and he didn't have to come up with made-up scenarios and filter his way into this foreign group and get their weakness.


He would do that as it was part of the information he wanted but that was just par the course as it is something that he would naturally gain knowledge of once he starts learning about Shinigami and their abilities. The difference was the way he went about it.


"Forgive me for saying this, Head Captain, but this guy smells like a folded bag of tricks. I'm sorry, Captain Shihōin, but that's just my guts speaking." Shinji said, wryly smiling as he apologized to Yoruichi. But honestly, when did the princess ever get this active? For someone else for that matter?


"Let me say this, Head Captain, but remember that all this came from a misinterpretation between him and Captain Shiba. If that's not enough, we can verify the timeframe he unlocked his Shikai. As for his strength and mental fortitude, it was due to his life as a warrior, that I can personally verify. None of his abilities and fighting styles were culled from the ones we Shinigamis use." Yoruichi said, crossing her hands while feeling a bit annoyed.


She was finally starting to wonder if this was a bad idea from the start but unfortunately she couldn't change it and could only go on with it and see the end of it.


She gave her word so she'll do her best concerning Itachi becoming a member of her Division. Leaving things halfway was not her style.


"Rest assured, I've heard all that you've said, Captain Shihōin, Captain Hirako." He looked at his question, the two of them in particular, Yoruichi frowning lightly while Shinji just shrugged nonchalantly.


"Captain Unohana, Captain Kuchiki, what are your thoughts?" He asked those two specifically while lightly resting backwards on his chair.


Itachi looked at the two Captains Yamamoto called out; the black haired woman and the permed white haired old man with the silk scarf around his neck, mentally taking note of what could be an informal council to Yamamoto.


Unohana bowed slightly to Yamamoto and looked directly at Itachi for the first time. "I believe the reports of Captain Shihōin have substantial weight, more so when in conjunction with Captain Shiba and Captain Urahara confirming most of the technicalities. Since he'll be under Captain Shihōin's watch, I see no need for heavy stipulations to be placed on him."


"Hmm, Captain Kuchiki?" Yamamoto nodded and turned to the 6th Division Captain.


"It shouldn't be forgotten that he did break a few of the Seireitei's rules and that should come with its equal punishment, even if it was done in ignorance. A precedent should not be encouraged or more would come from it. I also see no reason to stop Captain Shihōin from taking him into her Division; he'll have to be tested but that is all up to her." Ginrei Kuchiki finished his words, giving his opinion from an unbiased standpoint.


They couldn't just brush off anyone who kills Shinigami and claim it to be ignorance or a misunderstanding. That would just set a chaotic trend that would be too hard to deal with then.


Yamamoto lightly tapped his came against the ground and the room returned to still silence once again with all the Captains keeping their thoughts to themselves until Yamamoto's decision.


After a short while, Itachi saw Yamamoto open his eyes and look at Isshin and inquired of him.


"Captain Shiba, do you have any words against this young man?" Isshin shook his head at Yamamoto and the old man nodded. "I see. In that case, I will accept him as a Shinigami in training under Captain Shihōin and the umbrella of the Second Division and have him sent to Shin'ō Academy-"


"Um, I don't think that's necessary. He's already stronger than any instructor that'll be teaching them over at the Academy, hell even most of our Lieutenants." Yoruichi cut in, abashedly dodging a soft glare from a mildly crossed Head Captain who was irritated at being cut off.


"In any other situation, that would be your call to make but since he's mostly an unknown to everyone except you and Captain Shiba, I think it's better for the Captains to judge that since you just claimed him stronger than their Lieutenants." Yamamoto waved off Yoruichi's words since at this point he had nothing to do with it and this case would just be disturbing his tranquility if it stretches even more from here on out.


"Yes, I'm fighting him so all of you step back!" Kenpachi warned with a malicious smile on his face as he stared down Itachi.


Meanwhile Itachi remained mostly quiet as he tried painting a dynamic of the Captains with his observation so far.


Looking at Kenpachi, Itachi could already smell the wildly surging bloodlust and just when it threatened to burst out, Yamamoto raised his hand and that gesture arrested Kenpachi's rising bloodlust, earning the Head Captain a furious glare from the angry Captain of the Eleventh.


"Rather, have him fight a Lieutenant or one of your stronger Seated Officers. You have no objection, do you?"


Itachi shook his head. "I don't. Thank you for hearing me out." He said to Yamamoto who snorted at his words.


"Carry your further talks to the training ground." Yamamoto said as he stood up, hunched back, and started walking out of the room followed by the 12 dismissed Captains.


"So tell me, Itachi boy, what's your thoughts so far?" Shunsui asked as he walked beside Itachi who was flanked by Yoruichi and a bored-out-of-his-mind Kisuke.


"My thoughts on what?" Itachi asked back.


"Anything, everything. Even the air itself. What do you think?" Shunsui said with a laugh and wanted to tell Itachi that he was just playing around only to find Itachi, still with his neutral look, but with a certain look in his eyes.


"I like the moon. It is never changing." Itachi said as they stepped inside the training grounds of the 1st Division.


Shunsui adjusted his hat with a dropped smile. "I see. I like wine; it is intoxicating. Consider dropping by for some wine under the moonlight, that's one of my favorite pastimes."


Shunsui left them and moved over to where the weak-looking Jushiro was standing.


Yoruichi looked around, seeing no Lieutenant present, and couldn't help but ask. "Whose Lieutenant are we using for this little show? How about we call Lisa, eh Kyōraku?"


"I love that suggestion, Yoruichi. Let me send for her, haha, she's going to love this." Shunsui laughed and ordered one of the Shinigamis to bring his overworked Lieutenant to fight Itachi who was content with just watching everyone and the little actions they made with every movement.

 

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'Am I being too hasty?' This was the thought that plagued Itachi's mind as he stood in the training ground surrounded by the spectating Captains.


It was a thought that occurred very much to him hence why he was having a hard time figuring it out.


As an individual, especially someone of his capabilities, Itachi has always been resolute in his decisions and dealing, same with the consequences that come with those decisions.


He never let out a word of opposition even when they said to observe his skills against one of their own as this was something he knew they would do. After all, the Hidden Villages did the same thing.


No Kage would accept a foreign Jonin into their ranks without a thorough scrutiny of their abilities. It was a very strict process for long term undercover ninjas with those kinds of missions, unlike how calm and laid back these Captains were.


'With how diverse their abilities are, I guess it makes sense when every single Shinigami has the potential to have unique abilities.'


He watched as a female Shinigami walked into the training grounds after greeting the Captains and stood across from him.


The Lieutenant, Lisa Yadomaru, as Itachi heard them call her, was a bespectacled woman with turquoise eyes and a long braided ponytail swinging behind her.


"Don't look so confused, Lisa-chan. We want you to fight this man, Itachi, here." Her Captain said smilingly. "Oh, and you don't need to hold back at all. Call it our genuine curiosity, if you will. You don't mind that, do you, Itachi?"


Itachi shook his head. No need to be worried about it as this was something foreign/rogue ninjas go through when joining any formal military group.


"Well then. You guys can start anytime you want." As Shunsui said that, he and the other Captains moved further backwards to give the two combatants enough space.


Facing Itachi who was a stranger, the female Shinigami introduced herself. "I'm Lisa Yadomaru, Lieutenant of the 8th Division."


"Itachi Uchiha." He returned the gesture and drew out his sword.


They stood, sizing each other up, one curious while the other contemplating.


Seeing how she was still trying to get a read on him, Itachi took her consideration with appreciation and attacked first.


Her eyes widened and she reacted with a block as she suddenly saw Itachi attacking her with a speed that honestly left her surprised.


Before she could back out to regain her balance, she felt his hand on her shoulders and next thing she knew was that she was being thrown to the ground. With her decades of experience, along with the capability that came with being Shunsui's Kyōraku's Lieutenant, she grabbed onto Itachi's hand holding her shoulders and used it as a leverage to twist herself into balance midair and kicked his chest to push herself away.


'He's strong.' For experienced fighters, if a glance wasn't enough to gleam the strength class of an opponent, then the initial clash would. Now she understood why her Captain said not to hold back, but to her defense, half the things that came from his mouth were not to be taken seriously.


She steadied her breath and held her sword to Itachi. She nodded at him and that began the next salvo of attacks.


Itachi faced her as she pointed her palms at him, something he had seen Yoruichi do, and like he was mindful of, the familiar attack came. "Hadō #9: Shakkahō"


He dodged the red blast that shot at him and crossed the small distance between them and slashed a feint with his sword only to kick her in the sides which was hastily blocked.


Lisa grunted under the force of the kick only to look perplexed as smoke started coming from Itachi's mouth. Her senses warned her but before she could jump back, Itachi swung his sword to her left side, promptly reducing her retreat path to one.


She saw Itachi grind his teeth and produced a spark from it that ignited the ash and exploded it on them.


The two of them detached from each other but it was clear that she was the only one who suffered from that close ranged attack.


It was clear to the Captains that none of the two were going all out, simply feeling the depths of their opponents, except that one was on the back leg. Just as the Captains were observing Itachi, Itachi was using Lisa as a prodding lab test to gleam further into how the Shinigami fought.


So far, apart from their movement technique, the 'Hadō' technique they used was awfully similar to ninjutsus.


Watching her as one of her hands weaved a few hand signs, Itachi heard her invoke a new attack.


"Bakudo #60: Raitoningushikkusukēji"


Itachi quickly looked up and above him was a charging lightning ball that immediately shot down six lightning streams, effectively binding him within a lightning cage.


Unfortunately, this was a show and tell and Itachi knew he had to show his abilities to reduce their suspicion of him.


Lisa had been in the middle of chanting a reduced Hadō chant when Itachi within the lightning cage disappeared in a puff of smoke and left behind a log of wood.


A slight creak of her neck showed the reflective surface of a sword held over her shoulders.


"Is this enough?" Itachi asked, not just to her but also the Captain's watching.


They all held intrigued smiles but none of them said anything to stop the fight.


Though none of them said anything, it was pretty obvious that they wanted to see the 'eclipse' between Itachi and Lisa, strength wise.


He was leading her on and they all knew it, reacting to her attacks instead of pressing her on with his, and that made him sigh as he lifted his sword from her shoulders.


Lisa put a distance between them, an utmost serious look cast on her face, slamming her sword into its sheath and holding it over her head.


She slowly pulled it out, intoning as she did so. "Tsubuse(Smash), Haguro Tonbo". Her Reiatsu burst out in a turbulent wave and her sword underwent a transformation.


From the normal sleek katana she once held, now held with both hands was a long polearm with a Monkspade blade on one end and a ball on the other.


Instead of treating this as a spar of equals, Lisa looked at the fight between them as a no-holds-barred duel after truly understanding why her Captain said to fight with all she had. Anything short of that would ensure her loss.


Whether he needed to or not, Itachi responded in kind by holding his sword in a slanting angle and activating his Shikai.


"Terase, Tsukuyomi(Illuminate, Tsukuyomi)"


Honestly speaking, Itachi's Shikai wasn't all that impressive if one had a subliminal control over their Reiatsu, but that didn't mean it was useless in most cases.


Unlike with Lisa's Shikai release, Itachi's blade didn't have any visible changes on it which confused the spectating Captains and his opponent. If not for the burst in his Reiatsu, they would have thought he just said those words, well all of them except for Yoruichi who had an inkling on what Itachi did.


It was all a leading play.


Lisa pushed on her attack and thrust her polearm at Itachi who narrowly dodged it. Upon seeing the slight opening, she twisted her left arm and the polearm wobbled and changed direction towards Itachi who faltered behind.


The polearm speared towards Itachi's legs and Itachi used his sword to stab the ground, effectively blocking the polearm, all his actions being seen through by Lisa's calculating gaze.


Slightly drawing her polearm back, she twisted it and send it ball end towards Itachi who was still kneeling from the force of her thrust but as soon as the polearms end reached near him, Lisa's cold gaze faltered as another Itachi jumped over the kneeling one's shoulder and parried the polearm with his sword, leaving her open for the one still kneeling, well no longer kneeling as he drove a knee into her exposed abdomen that sent her flying backwards like a shooting star – only for her to crash into something and feel someone holding her in a chokehold.


A third Itachi.


She trembled as she saw the two Itachi's in front of her weave some hand signs and bring their hands towards their mouth which only opened to spout out two huge balls of fire that joined together into one and blazed towards her.


-!


"Lisa-chan! What are you doing?!"


She jumped back in shock and frantically looked around her, not seeing the giant fireball or the person holding her, or even a second Itachi.


"Why are you just standing there Lisa-chan?" She turned towards her slightly frowning Captain.


"Wha– I thought…" She looked over at Itachi who was still in the same spot her stood after activating his Shikai.


'Did he activate his Shikai?' She thought, thoroughly confused.