Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

The class quickly cleared out leaving only Itachi and Ounabara in the classroom. Itachi showed some surprise in his eyes before reverting back to his calm state. "Body flicker technique? No, it was different..." Itachi thought to himself before looking at Ounabara.

Ounabara was also a bit surprised to see Itachi's calm face. "Why is this kid always so calm?" Ounabara thought before he questioned Itachi.

"Do you know why I told you to stay here?"

Itachi looked at him before saying "You are curious about the nature of my technique." Ounabara was once again surprised to hear his response. However, he kept his thoughts aside and continued.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"If it was just for the fight, you would have kept the other student here as well. Although I beat him, I kept my reiatsu suppressed and avoided hitting anything vital so he would have recovered after a short moment. You still sent him to the nurse, and kept me back here. It was likely because you wish to inquire where I learned my techniques, as I am not someone of the major households." Itachi responded.

Ounabara was astonished "What analysis. Just with me stopping him he figured out so much. He remains calm and level headed and coupled with his combat proficiency, it's as if he has lived through battles his entire life. I read his files. He came from the remote rukongai districts. There's no chance of him learning much there. Where did he pick up his techniques?" Ounabara thought to himself.

"Where did you learn that technique?" Ounabara questioned.

"Someone who was like an older brother figure to me taught me before he passed away." Itachi replied thinking back to his younger days training with Shisui.

Ounabara was quiet for a moment before he said, "I see, well you certainly have high talent in hakuda techniques. You don't have to be too pensive. I only stopped you because I was curious about your technique. Your Hakuda skills are definitely impressive. I look forward to seeing your aptitude in the other fields as well." Ounabara smiled before leaving the room with Itachi.

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The class was waiting in the Hakuda training hall. Itsuki was very nervous as he stood in the corner.

The rest of the class was patiently awaiting the arrival of the instruction. Some were even looking at their new asauchi. A moment later footsteps could be heard as they saw Ounabara and Itachi approaching. Itachi joins the rest of his classmates and Itsuki breathes a sigh of relief that Itachi wasn't in trouble as Ounabara stands in front of everyone.

"This next lesson will be in Hakuda. I'm sure you all know how to punch and kick but there is a proper way to do it in addition to a few other forms and techniques. After I demonstrate, pair yourselves up with a sparring partner and practice."

Ounabara gets into a fighting stance. He explains the importance of balance just like in zanjutsu training earlier then executes a punch and then a kick slowly. Ounabara emphasizes the proper form in doing both actions as he does them again much faster.

"Okay now that you've seen the basics, I'm going to show you some techniques. But before that," Ounabara points to a corner of the room with shelves packed with various sizes of sparring gear. "Put those on." He finishes.

"Good you're all geared up. I need a volunteer now." Ounabara scans the whole class with his eyes. A young man raises his hand.

"Shihouin Taro. Get up here." Ounabara nods before inviting Taro up to the front. Taro makes his way through the students and stands next to Ounabara.

"I'll demonstrate to you all proper defensive techniques. In order to do so, it will have to be in a combat situation. Shihouin, I want you to strike at me." Ounabara says. Taro's eyes light up in excitement.

"Yes sensei!" Taro takes a quick backstep, surprising the instructor with his footwork.

"So he's already accustomed to hoho? As expected of the Shihouin family." Ounabara thinks to himself before he gets into a defensive stance with his arms out and up in front of him. Taro leaps forward again and executes a round kick with his right leg straight towards the side of Ounabaras head. Ounabara shifts his arms higher to block the kick but Taro feints his round kick and takes off the ground with his other leg to kick Ounabara's open side. Ounabara sees this coming and notices the shift in balance in Taro's form and leans in. He grabs the ċhėstpiece of Taro's sparring gear and throws him onto the ground. Taro hits the ground and rolls backwards. He quickly regains his composure and stands back up.

"Okay that's enough! Let me explain to you all what I did and how I reacted." Ounabara says to the class as Taro relaxes from his stance. Ounabara continues, "Shihouin initiated an attack with his right foot towards my head. Naturally I respond with both my arms to the left side of my body to block the attack. However, that attack was a feint and he switched his position mid air to attack with his left. Ordinarily you couldn't block an attack like that since your arms are already in position to block the first kick. An excellent feint on Shihouin's part. However, because of the difference in battle experience, I noticed the flaw in his feint which was his temporarily unbalanced center of gravity as he switched to kick with his other leg. So I used that opportunity to counterattack. I don't expect you all to be able to do that yet at your current levels as this is something gained through experiencing many battles." Ounabara finishes his analysis and tells Taro to rejoin the rest of the class.

"Now I want you all to get into pairs or groups and spar with each other for the remainder of class. Practice the basic punches and kicks and look for your opportunities to block, dodge or counter attack." Ounabara moves to the side of the training hall as the class spreads out looking for sparring partners. Itsuki looks around for Itachi and sees him by himself. He walks towards him but before he has a chance to get his attention, Taro confronts Itachi.

"Hey Uchiha! I saw how you thrashed Daiki earlier. You know the Shihouin family is known to specialize in Hakuda and can be considered the most proficient in all the major families. I won't lose to anyone when it comes to close combat." Taro boasts to Itachi.

"So you wish to spar?" Itachi questions, staring at Taro.

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Itsuki tries to get closer but a burly man blocks his way.

"Hey now I won't let you interrupt Taro's fun. You'll have to go through me." Kenta says while looking down at Itsuki.

"Fine!" Itsuki gets into his fighting stance. Kenta stands there without changing his stance. Itsuki charges at Kenta but Kenta simply extends his arm out and grabs Itsuki's head. Itsuki tries to break free but is unable to as Kenta lifts him up and throws him onto the ground, knocking the wind out of Itsuki. Itsuki shakily stands up only to see Kenta with his hands crossed across his ċhėst. He continues his attempts to no avail. Kenta counters every one of his moves. Itsuki eventually tires himself out and is no longer able to get up.

"You won't be able to beat me so just stay down" Kenta sneers before turning his attention towards Taro's fight.

"Damn I'm too weak...I need to train harder!…" Itsuki thinks to himself as he sits up. He looks towards Itachi and Taro's spar.

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Taro takes a quick step towards Itachi, demonstrating his hoho prowess. Itachi doesn't react and remains stationary.

"You're full of openings!" Taro exclaims as he gets within striking distance of Itachi. Taro aims a sharp punch to Itachi's ċhėst. Before the punch hits, Itachi quickly sidesteps the strike. Taro's expression turns to shock at Itachi's swift movement. Itachi sends a low sweeping kick from the side. Taro, unable to regain his balance on time, stumbles from Itachi's counter. His face turns ashen at Itachi's counter. He rolls a few feet as he hits the ground before jumping up again. He turns back towards Itachi who is still standing without a fighting stance. He waits for a few seconds before charging at Itachi once again and sends a round kick with his right foot towards Itachi's face. Unperturbed by this attack, Itachi steps forward and catches Taro's leg before the kick reaches full momentum. At the same he uses his right hand to grab Taro's shihakusho before turning around and flipping Taro over him and slamming him into the ground.

"He's so fast!" Taro thought to himself before being lifted and thrown to the ground.

The faces of Daiyu and Kenta were filled with shock as they watched Taro being defeated with ease.

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For the next 5 minutes, Taro continued to charge at Itachi, with each attempt easily countered by Itachi.

"This sparring session is over!" Ounabara calls out. "Put your sparring gear back on the racks. Class is dismissed."

Taro looks back at Itachi and sees he had already taken off his sparring gear and was walking towards the gear racks. Taro takes off his helmet and puts his head down in loss, wide eyed as he realizes he could not land a single hit on Itachi. Daiyu and Kenta walk up to taro.

"Taro…" Daiyu attempted to console Taro but she had no words. Taro sighs.

"Don't say anything, I wasn't even a match.That guy is too freakish. Everything I threw at him he just countered with ease. I don't think he even tried against me." Taro responded.

"Hey, just because he beat you at hakuda, doesn't mean he's better right? There are still Hoho, Kido, and Zanjutsu techniques. That guy doesn't look like he belongs to any of the major families. He probably didn't ever have access to Kido or Hoho Techniques. I am sure you could defeat him if it came to those arts!" Kenta said attempting to console Taro. Taro snaps with noticeable agitation in his voice.

"Were you not watching that fight?! The way he sidestepped and moved around me...That was Hoho! I'm from the Shihouin family whose previous head, Yoruichi, was known as the flash goddess because of her unrivaled use of Hoho techniques in all of Soul Society! Yet this guy who doesn't even have noble blood outclassed me so easily!" Taro takes a few breaths and regains his composure.

"Listen, you two. Thanks for trying to console me but just give me some time alone for the rest of the day." Taro takes off the rest of his gear and walks towards the gear rack, leaving Daiyu and Kenta standing there.

Akemi glanced at Itachi.

"So he does have some skill." She thought to herself before turning away.

Itsuki was shocked at Itachi's performance and could only stand there watching him as he left the training hall.

Itachi made his way toward the library. He greets the librarian as he enters and makes his way towards the historical section.

"What the... it's that fellow again." The librarian was surprised to see Itachi walk in.

The librarian was still recalling the scene of Itachi becoming extremely fatigued from flipping through books.

Itachi continues his way towards the left shelf. He picks up a few books on the noble families of Soul Society and quickly reads through them with his sharingan.

"He's doing it again..." The librarian thinks to himself as he peeks over his book to look at Itachi.

He watches as Itachi flips through the books. After thirty minutes Itachi once again became tired and walked out of the library.

"Why does he get so tired from reading? If he comes back again, I'll just ask him." The librarian thought before getting back to reading his own book. Unaware of the librarian's thoughts, Itachi starts to head over to the dorms.

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"I'm not as tired as yesterday since I'm not fatigued from travel and the testing. "I should check out the other training areas." Itachi thinks to himself.

Itachi changes directions and makes his way towards the training fields. He observes some upperclassmen performing kido but is interrupted as he feels someone tap on his shoulder. He turns around and sees it is Itsuki.

"Itachi. Can you train me?"