Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

From the light of the explosion, Ulquiorra emerged as he jumped out of it, with an arm missing and the damage spread through his body. Ulquiorra looked at the crater that resulted from Itachi's act of self destruction.

"It appears that true despair was too much even for you, Uchiha Itachi." Ulquiorra said out loud to himself. His wounds began to slowly heal and his arm started to grow back.

Suddenly, the ground erupted from behind Ulquiorra, causing him to turn around. Ulquiorra was surprised when he saw Itachi was behind him as Itachi swung his blade at Ulquiorra, prompting him to raise his arm in response to block it with his hierro.

"You're still alive...my pesquisa didn't sense you. You hid your spiritual pressure well for me not to notice." Ulquiorra commented as Itachi's blade pushed against his arm. Suddenly, Ulquiorra disappeared and reappeared behind Itachi. As Ulquiorra was about to strike Itachi from behind, Itachi turned around and parried the blow. Ulquiorra disappeared again and reappeared behind Itachi once more as Itachi continued parrying his attacks.

'In terms of raw speed, he is faster than me. But I can read his movements well enough with my Sharingan to react. At the rate this is going though, I won't get anywhere parrying his attacks like this…' Itachi thought to himself as he continued blocking Ulquiorra's onslaught of attacks.

"This is getting nowhere." Ulquiorra commented as he backed away from Itachi and raised his arms out in front of him. In his hands, a green javelin of reiatsu formed.

"Amaterasu!" Itachi concentrated the black flames towards Ulquiorra as he was forming the javelin. Ulquiorra quickly raised the javelin in front of him and spun it quickly, causing the black flames to fan away from him as he spun it. Parts of the javelin eventually caught on fire, causing Ulquiorra to let go of it as the reiatsu burned away.

"A trick like that won't work on me again." Ulquiorra commented as he quickly reformed another javelin and threw it at Itachi. Itachi quickly moved his head as the javelin flew past him. In the next moment, a large tower of green reiatsu exploded behind him.

"This attack has always been hard to control. But I won't miss it again." Ulquiorra stated as he created another javelin to throw at Itachi. Ulquiorra suddenly vanished and reappeared to Itachi's side.

"I would have rather not used this up close." Ulquiorra said as Itachi turned to face him. As Ulquiorra prepared to jab Itachi with the attack, a large armored figure surrounded Itachi and raised a shield in front of him, creating a loud screech as Ulquiorra's attack collided with the front of the shield.

Both Ulquiorra and Itachi's Susanoo became engulfed in a green reiatsu as it exploded into a massive towering column of energy.

-----

Orihime continued running as she felt the reiatsu of Renji and Rukia in their fight against Starrk. 'I should be getting close to Urahara's shop...I just need to-' Orihime's thoughts are cut off as she felt both Rukia and Renji's reiatsu drop.

'No...they're hurt and I'm just running away leaving them…' Orihime stopped in her tracks and turned around to go back, only to see a tall man with long brown hair standing in front of her.

"Don't make this difficult. You're coming with me." Starrk said as Orihime looked at him in horror.

"I...have to save my friends! I won't go with you!" Orihime yelled back at Starrk. Starrk scratched the back of his head and looked at her.

"Your friends aren't dying. They're unconscious, but alive. However, if you don't come with me peacefully, I might change my mind and go finish the job." Starrk replied. Orihime paused for a moment and looked down at the ground in disappointment of her powerlessness.

"I'll...go with you…" Orihime said regretfully. Starrk nodded and opened a garganta.

----

The smoke from the explosion began to clear. From within the smoke, the glowing eyes of the Susanoo shined through. Ulquiorra jumped out of the smoke, with heavy damage spread through his body.

Itachi stood inside the armored susanoo, heavily panting as parts of the susanoo's armor began to crack and dissipate. 'I blocked most of it from the front but it still hit the rest of the Susanoo. I can't hold it for much longer. I need to end this now.'

"Uchiha Itachi...your defense is certainly remarkable. But how long can you last before you fall?" Ulquiorra said as he charged in at Itachi at full speed. Itachi raised the Yata Mirror in front of him to block the attack, only for Ulquiorra to vanish and reappear behind the Susanoo and strike the armor, causing more of it to crack. Itachi turned around and swung the Totsuka blade at Ulquiorra, narrowly missing at Ulquiorra maneuvered away and used Sonido to reappear on the other side of Itachi again and chip off another piece of armor.

"Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, with light, divide this into six!"

As the Susanoo's armor continued to get peeled away by Ulqiuorra, Itachi finished the dual incantation for both Hado 58: Kakushitsuijaku and Hado 61: Rikujokoro. Six bright beams of reiatsu appeared and targeted Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra noticed the beams and immediately jumped away from them, only for the beams to split apart and follow his reiatsu from different paths as they tried to bind him.

"A homing attack?" Ulquiorra questioned as he stopped his ȧssault on Itachi's Susanoo and continued to dodge the Bakudo. "A technique of this level...won't work on me." Ulquiorra continued dodging the beams as he manifested another green javelin in his hand. As the beams converged on him, with a swift slice he cut through all six of the beams.

In that same moment, a sharp pain was felt from his ċhėst as a blade pierced him from behind. Ulquiorra turned his neck and saw Itachi had stabbed through him with some sort of reiatsu coming out of a gourd.

"I can't...move my body..." Ulquiorra grunted as he felt his body melt into the blade and into the gourd.

Immediately after, Itachi fell to one knee as the Susanoo around him vanished. He panted heavily as sweat and blood dripped from his face.

'I'm at my limit. I wouldn't have been able to hold the Susanoo for another moment. That Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer was not an easy opponent. I hope...Inoue made it safely…' Itachi thought as his vision began to darken and he collapsed on the ground.