Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

The following day after training -

Itachi and Shun wait in the meeting room for their orders. Soi Fon arrives and they both stand up and bow to the Captain.

"At ease you two. We're going over the mission now." Soi Fon says then continues, "I sent the information Yami pulled from his interrogation to the Inner Court Troop. They did some research and scouting while you two were fighting hollows and managed to come up with a location for this guy." Soi Fon stops for a moment and looks at Itachi.

"Normally I wouldn't put someone so new on something this important but your performance so far has been above expectations so this will be a good experience for you. You also had a key role in the mission's success by capturing one of the ȧssailants last time. And, since you have Yami with you, this should be done without too much trouble." Soi Fon says as she looks at Yami. She hands Yami a scroll. Yami opens the scroll and reads what is on it.

"Those are the coordinates you are to go to. It's an old warehouse in the second Rukongai district. The Inner Court Troop deduced that the man who is behind these stuff is Nobutoshi Shin and he is using that as his base of operations. Central 46 was informed and made this a kill order. Both of you are to depart immediately and ȧssassinate him." Soi Fon says to Itachi and Shun.

"Yes Captain!" Both Itachi and Shun say as they vanish instantly from the room.

In a short amount of time, they reach the warehouse in Rukongai. They conceal their presence and hide out of sight behind some buildings. Shun looks around and sees a few guards patrolling the fence.

"I haven't got a chance to see how well you perform at infiltration but so far your concealment of reiatsu is perfect. I'd like to test you here." Shun says to Itachi

"I am average." Itachi nods and replies.

"Well aren't you humble. You go in first I'll follow behind."

Itachi nods and vanishes from his spot. He reappears on top of the fence right above where a person was patrolling. Itachi jumps down from the fence with a noticeably loud thud as he hits the ground. The person hears him and turns around, looking straight into Itachi's Sharingan.

Before he had the chance to utter a noise, he fell to the ground. Shun appears behind Itachi.

"While you dealt with that guy, I did a quick scout around the warehouse. There are no other guards and there is an open window at the top of the warehouse. We can sneak in through there and exit through there once we kill the guy." Shun gestures to go to the roof and the two of them jump up to the roof of the warehouse. In front of them they see the window cracked open just enough for a person to fit.

Shun approaches the window cautiously but Itachi grabs his shoulder and stops him.

"It's a trap." Itachi says while he looks through the window with his Sharingan. Shun immediately senses something underneath them and both of them jump off the roof of the warehouse.

From the fire and smoke of the destroyed warehouse, a lone figure of a person could be seen inside, slowly walking out. Itachi watches with his Sharingan and Shun has a confused look on his face.

"This guy's reiatsu...it's like a shinigami...but something is off…" Shun comments. Itachi remains silent and keeps observing.

"So they send two fodder shinigami after me? I was hoping to at least fight a lieutenant. You two won't do at all…" A voice murmurs from the smoke. The person walks out and is completely visible to both Itachi and Shun.

"Is this Nobutoshi?...His sclera are completely black and his eyes have a menacing yellow glow much like a hollow's…" Shun gets into a fighting stance.

"We need to kill him now Itachi." Shun flash steps in with his fastest speed and lands a solid kick to the side of the man's head. Nobutoshi takes a few steps back but quickly regains his balance.

"I guess if I kill you, maybe your Captain will show up?" Nobutoshi gives Shun an ominous smile. Itachi appears behind Nobutoshi but Nobutoshi flares his reiatsu and lets out a loud roar, pushing both of the shinigami back. Itachi regroups with Shun as Nobutoshi stares at both of them.

"No...I won't kill you...I'LL MAKE YOU MY TEST SUBJECTS!" Nobutoshi says as he starts laughing maniacally. Shun looks at Itachi and Itachi looks back at him.

"Formation C." Itachi says. Shun nods and gets ready.

"Formations? Do your worst!" Nobutoshi says as he regains his composure and faces both Itachi and Shun. His face later turns to confusion however as he sees Itachi draw his blade and cut straight through Shun's back.

"Hado 33: Sokatsui." Itachi fires a blue blast of reiatsu at Nobutoshi, creating an explosion and sending Nobutoshi flying back towards the warehouse. Itachi and Shun watch patiently to wait for a counterattack.

Instead, Nobutoshi lay face up on the ground looking at the sky. "I wanted to use them, but instead I'll just kill them!" Nobutoshi yells as he gets back up. He looks back at Itachi and Shun with killing intent.

"This guy is persistent...let's do formation B." Shun suggests.

"Formation B. Understood." Itachi starts to weave hand signs as Shun casts a bakudo.

"Bakudo 21: Sekienton!" A large cloud of smoke erupts from where they are both standing. Nobutoshi lets out a smirk and charges in straight towards the smoke.

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu."

As Nobutoshi approaches the smoke, he sees a large fireball emerge from it. Nobutoshi stops in his tracks and tries to block the fireball with his hands. He manages to hold onto it briefly before dispelling it with his reiatsu. At this time, Shun points his hand at Nobutoshi.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa." As the fireball dissipates, Nobutoshi feels his body suddenly confined as his arms are pressed tightly against his body.

"Bakudo 37: Tsuriboshi." Nobutoshi soon finds himself covered in an elastic substance and struggles to break free. In this time, both Shun and Itachi positioned themselves to be at opposite sides of Nobutoshi for a pincer attack. They both charge in with their blades drawn and cut through both the bakudo and Nobutoshi. A large amount of blood gushes from the cocoon and a deafening, beastly scream is let out.

"Now the real fun starts." Nobutoshi says in a distorted voice. He vanishes from his spot and reappears in front of Itachi.

'He's fast. Faster than Shun.' Itachi thinks as Nobutoshi throws a punch at him. Itachi is able to dodge the punch thanks to the Sharingan's increased reaction speed and Itachi manages to throw his own punch at Nobutoshi. Nobutoshi dodges the punch and the two of them start to rally punches and kicks between each other. 'I may be able to keep up with his speed but his power is a different story. I can't keep blocking like this…' Itachi says as he feels the force of the punches and kicks reverberate through his body. Itachi manages to find an opening and makes some distance between himself and Nobutoshi.

Nobutoshi sees what Itachi is doing and quickly closes the gap between them. He charges straight towards Itachi and lands a solid punch to Itachi, only for Itachi's body to suddenly start breaking down into crows and flying away.

Shun appears next to Nobutoshi and sends a kick towards his face. Nobutoshi blocks the kick and grabs Shun's leg. As he grabs Shun's leg he feels a sharp pain in his ċhėst. He lets go of Shun's leg and looks behind to see it was Itachi who stabbed him.

He glares at Itachi and releases a large amount of Reiatsu, blasting both Shun and Itachi away from him. Itachi gets his balance back and lands. He looks back up at Nobutoshi and notices something going on with where he just stabbed him. He sees the stab wound seal back up and heal.

"Instantaneous regeneration...a trait that some hollows use…" Shun says as he appears next to Itachi. Shun and Itachi watch as Nobutoshi starts emitting a foul reiatsu and his body slowly transforms. His arms and legs become the same color as his mask and a hole starts growing in his ċhėst.

"He's transforming into a hollow?!" Shun looks at Nobutoshi but is unable to get near due to the sheer amount of reiatsu being released that is pushing him back.

"Instantaneous regeneration with immense power and speed...even my genjutsu seems to have a limited effect on him because of the difference in reiatsu…" Itachi keeps observing Nobutoshi, going over many scenarios in his head in rapid succession in order to form a plan to beat him.

"Itachi, I'm going in. The only way to kill this guy at this point is a strike through the head. Even if I die, make sure you finish him off." Shun says to Itachi before flash stepping in. Shun delivers a heavy kick aimed at Nobutoshi's chin. Nobutoshi takes one step back from the force of the blow but retaliates by grabbing Shun's face. A red light starts to emit from Nobutoshi's hand towards Shun's face.

At the last moment, Itachi appears and cuts off Nobutoshi's hand, cancelling the cero. He grabs Shun and flash steps away before the reiatsu in the dislodged hand explodes, knocking back Nobutoshi in a large red explosion.

Itachi puts Shun down and Shun gets up. He gives Itachi a disappointed look.

"You could have killed Nobutoshi there. But instead you saved me."

"Letting you die there just for a chance to kill Nobutoshi is not worth letting a comrade die. If you deemed Nobutoshi someone who you need to give your life to kill, you haven't found his weakness. Every technique, every enemy has a weakness. We simply need to find it." Itachi replies to Shun with a stern look.

Shun's expression softens slightly. "That way of thinking may work for you but it's not how we do things here in the Executive Militia. I'm sure you know about how we use an ally's death as an opening to kill our target."

Itachi does not reply to Shun and looks back at Nobutoshi who was getting back up from the explosion.

"His reiatsu keeps rising. We'll do formation A." Itachi says to Shun. Shun nods and charges in, with Itachi close behind. Both Itachi and Shun are taken by surprise as Nobutoshi disappears from their line of sight. Nobutoshi reappears with a loud boom sound next to them.

With great speed, Nobutoshi swings his arm at Itachi. Itachi looks at Nobutoshi directly in the eye.

'Genjutsu: Sharingan.'

Nobutoshi ignores it and continues his attack on Itachi. Itachi's Sharingan manages to let him react to it and bȧrėly dodge it as he steps back. Shun jumps in to attack Nobutoshi but gets grabbed at the waist. Nobutoshi lets out a roar as he charges another cero and a bright light envelops Shun.

'Even if I kill Nobutoshi, the reiatsu that is built up in its hand will still go off and kill Shun.' Itachi jumps over the hollows head and attempts to cut off its hand again. However his blade only bȧrėly scrapes across the surface of the hollow's skin. Itachi could only watch as the cero is fired from Nobutoshi's hand and envelops him entirely.

As the smoke cleared from Nobutoshi's hand, Nobutoshi released his grip and all that was left were a pair of legs.

'Why did my blade bounce off its skin? Does it have some sort of skin hardening technique?' Itachi looked back at the remains of Shun's body. 'My weakness let another comrade die...I...'

Itachi looks back at Nobutoshi who was glaring at Itachi. Itachi closes his eyes briefly and reopens them, activating his Mangekyou Sharingan.

In that brief instant, Itachi catches a glimpse of Captain Soi Fon.

"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi." Soi Fon draws out her Zanpakuto and stabs Nobutoshi in the back with it. She winds her arm back and stabs the same spot again.

"Nigeki Kessatsu." Nobutoshi's body suddenly starts to glow and break down. His hollowfied state disappears and his human body starts to break down as well. Before Nobutoshi has a chance to fully disintegrate, he whispers one last sentence as he looks at Itachi.

"Sixty...years...exile…" Nobutoshi murmurs to himself quietly before his body vanishes. Soi Fon didn't hear his voice but Itachi understood clearly when he saw his lips move with his Sharingan. Itachi deactivates his Mangekyou Sharingan and looks back at Soi Fon.

Soi Fon ignores Itachi and goes to Shun's remains. Several other Executive Militia shinigami arrive on the scene.

"I want this place cleaned up immediately!" Soi Fon yells out. The shinigami immediately start clearing the area out.

"Now.. now.. Captain Soi Fon let me take care of this. I'll gladly take whatever is left in that warehouse!" A voice suddenly appears behind Soi Fon. Soi Fon turns around and sees Captain Kurotsuchi.

"I would also love to study the remains of that shinigami over there." Mayuri points towards Shun's remains.

"You can take the warehouse but those remains stay with us." Soi Fon gives Mayuri a cold look and the two of them engage in a brief staredown.

"No need to be so hostile to each other." Another Captain appears next to them and gives a soft smile.

"And what are you doing here Captain Aizen?" Soi Fon instead focuses her attention on Aizen.

"Wouldn't anyone come to investigate if there was a large hollow reiatsu that could be felt from Seretei?" Aizen replies while still smiling.

"Fine. Just don't stand in our way." Soi Fon says as she walks away from Aizen.

She heads towards Itachi who remains staring at what is left of shun.

"Are you saddened by his death?" Soi Fon asks.

Itachi remains silent. He had seen death numerous times and had even participated in his own family's massacre. Although he was saddened, he kept his composure.

"Don't be, remember our creed, If your comrade is being defeated, you should see it as an opportunity. Rather than standing in the way, you should stab the enemy in the back. And if the enemy is so far above your level that you cannot even manage that, then you should let your comrade die. That is the way of the Onmitsukidō." Soi says coldy before walking away.

Itachi remains standing, thinking about his own past.