Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

For the next two months up until the tournament day, Itachi and Itsuki trained diligently. Itachi no longer sent shadow clones to class and trained with his full power. Itsuki began increasing the weight on his training weights more and more and Itachi notes how quickly Itsuki is progressing in his strength, speed and technique. Even Itsuki's confidence rose with the training and Itachi notices that he was not the same weak boy anymore at the beginning of the semester. He also sparred with Taro at times. Itachi spent the rest of his effort mastering his kido and reiatsu control.

Two months quickly pass and the tournament approaches. Itsuki and Itachi both make their way towards the arena. When they arrive they see quite a few students who were lined up to participate. This was a good opportunity for some of the students to showcase their skill in front of the shinigami who came to spectate. There were a few first years from the advanced class that Itachi recognized such as Taro, Kenta, and Daiyu. He also saw Daiki and Akemi waiting in the lines. The rest of the students were mostly 5th and sixth who were close to graduating from the academy. A . Inside the arena, a large crowd could be heard already inside and more people from various parts of Rukongai and Sereitei were entering the arena. The line wasn't very long and there were not as many students participating as they thought there would be.

"I expected over a hundred people but there looks to be only half of that" Itsuki comments as he looks at the line.

"It's mostly those who are close to graduating and those who wish to make a good impression on the special guests" Itachi replied.

"Captain Kuchiki of the sixth division and Captain Soi Fon of the 2nd division. Some of the strongest shinigami in the soul society. Can't believe they will be spectating us." Itsuki said nervously.

"Just do your best." Itachi said calmly.

"Not everyone is calm like you" Itsuki said shaking his head and following behind Itachi.

The two of them wait in line until it is their turn to register. Itachi registers his name and then goes to the break room. He and Itsuki look up at the monitor after the line clears and the brackets appear on the screen with the students' names and year.

"Looks like I'm fighting a 3rd year." Itsuki says while reading the bracket. Itachi looks for his name on the screen and sees he is matched up against Kenta Omaeda.

The announcer enters the middle of the arena and greets everyone as the arena quiets down. His voice could be heard through the speakers in the break room.

"Welcome everyone to the first annual Shino Academy Tournament! We'll get straight to the point! The rules of this tournament are simple! Participants are to fight in one on one matches. The use of your asauchi is allowed. The winner of the matches will be decided when one of the participants is rendered unconscious or unable to move. You are not allowed to kill your opponent. All matches up to the quarter finals have a five minute time limit. Any match after that has no time limit. If both participants are still standing at the end of the time limit, the one who has taken the least damage is deemed the winner. NOW THE TOURNAMENT WILL BEGIN!!!!!" The announcer finishes and the crowd cheers loudly.

The announcer names the first two students fighting. They enter the arena as the other participants watch from the break room. Itsuki has his eyes glued to the monitor while Itachi is paying attention elsewhere. He notices there is a VIP area and in the VIP area of the audience, five individuals could be seen watching, three of which were wearing captain's haori. Itachi makes them out to be Ounabara, the headmaster, Captain Aizen, Captain Soi Fon, and Captain Byakuya.

Some of the students also noticed the captains.

"Wow looks its captain Aizen, I didn't know he was coming today. One girl said with her eyes shining.

"Yeah, he is always the most approachable. A lot of people want to join the 5th division."

'Aizen, so he came.' Itachi thought to himself before turning away.

Itachi looks back at the monitor and sees the students are still fighting. After three minutes pass, a winner is named and the announcer declares the next match.

"For the next match, first year Omaeda Kenta and first year Uchiha Itachi will be fighting!" The announcer says. Itachi glances at Kenta and nods before standing up and heading to the ring.

Kenta started panicking the moment he saw the roster. Why was he the one to fight that abnormal fellow. Taro had told him that Itachi was the one who killed the hollow that almost killed him. He wouldn't even stand a chance.

"Why me…." Kenta felt depressed. He thought this would be his time to show off in front of Captain Soi Fon.

He looked towards Taro who stood helpless. He didn't have any advice for his friend.

"Uh, Just give it your all Kenta. I am sure as long as you try your best, you will be fine.." Taro said, smiling helplessly.

Kenta simply nodded before making his way over to the fighting ring.

Itachi was already waiting for him in the ring. Kenta reassured himself and knew he could only try his best. He slapped himself and drew his sword.

"Captain Kuchiki, Captain Soi Fon, thank you very much for making time and coming to the event." The Headmaster said with a slight nod.

"Of course." Soi Fon responds.

Captain Kuchiki simply nodded and continued watching the fights.

"Captain Aizen, it is surprising to see you came as well" The headmaster commented.

"I am sorry for intruding, but it is interesting to see new events adopted into the academy." Aizen said while smiling.

"No, It is our pŀėȧsurė to have you here." The headmaster quickly replied.

The announcer moves out of the ring. "LET THE SECOND MATCH BEGINNN!"

Itachi stands there observing Kenta before Kenta finally charges over towards Itachi.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa!" Kenta shoots a yellow rope of energy at Itachi. Itachi side steps to dodge it but Kenta appears next to him and draws his asauchi. He swings his sword but Itachi kicks the sword out of Kenta's hand and it lands several meters away behind Kenta.

A smoke cloud forms from the blast and Kenta is seen jumping out of it with burns on his hand. Kenta lands and picks his asauchi back up. He turns around to see the smoke cloud still there. He could sense Itachi had not moved from the spot. 'Did I manage to hurt him with that?' Kenta questions to himself. Itachi remains standing in the smoke cloud until it clears and Kenta is shocked to see Itachi's shihakusho slightly damaged but Itachi himself was unscathed. Kenta with his asauchi drawn, charges at Itachi and goes for a horizontal slash.

Itachi puts his hand on the handle of his sheath asauchi and waits. Kenta executes the slash but Itachi dodges it by a hair's width by crouching down. With Kenta's body now wide open, Itachi hits Kenta in the stomach with the hilt of his asauchi. Kenta is winded from the blow and loses his balance. He staggers back but Itachi jumps forward, putting his hand on Kenta's shoulder as he does a front flip over him. In the process, he grabs Kenta's shihakusho and flips him with him. Itachi lands on his feet and with the momentum, throws Kenta to the ground. Kenta hits the ground hard as the ground cracks slightly and is knocked out from the impact. The crowd is shocked by the performance and was silent at first. The announcer looks at Kenta who was completely unconscious.

"INCREDIBLE! UCHIHA ITACHI HAS KNOCKED OUT OMAEDA KENTA!" The announcer declares and the crowd cheers.

"So this is the star student of the first year class?" Byakuya questions and looks to Ounabara who nods. Soi Fon remains silent and Aizen watches Itachi closely. 'Uchiha Itachi...those eyes of his... he said they were a part of his bloodline. For the past two months, I've done research on every major bloodline in Soul Society yet no family has the ability to change their eyes like that...also his last name "Uchiha" did not exist in 12th division's database until this point…I wonder if the students in this tournament would even be able to push him to use those eyes again.'

"He was also the one who fought and killed the hollows that interrupted the exam and managed to kill one of them before Captain Aizen showed up." Ounabara adds in.

"He is very proficient in Hakuda." Soi Fon points out. "I look forward to his next fights."

A couple of shinigami pick up the unconscious Omaeda and take him to the infirmary. Itachi walks back to the breakroom. He was just in time to see the announcer mentioning the next match on the bracket.

"IN THE NEXT ROUND, FIRST YEAR SHOU ITSUKI WILL BE FIGHTING THIRD YEAR SATO JIRO!

"Looks like I'm up!" Itsuki says to Itachi as he walks to the fighting area. Itsuki stands at his spot and looks across at the man standing in front of him. He was a lot bigger than Itsuki but Itsuki was confident that his training with Itachi would prove him to be strong enough to fight him. The announcer jumps back from his spot.