Itachi Rebirth: A Shinigami Tale

The next day.

Itachi sits down at his desk waiting for the instructor to arrive. A few minutes later, Ounabara comes in through the door and stands at the podium as he greets the class.

"Today will be a simple day. We will go over several topics on Soul Society and hollows." Ounabara says to the class.

For the next thirty minutes, Itachi listens to the lecture but doesn't take many notes. He had already read these things in the library and it was mostly review for him. Itachi stares out the window and starts to daydream. 'When Sasuke passes away, is it possible I will ever meet him here?' Itachi shakes the thought then goes over various training scenarios in his head he could do after class.

Itachi's daydreaming is interrupted by Ounabara raising his voice.

"Remember there is no class for the rest of the week! Spend your free time wisely! If you don't train and study consistently you will fall behind! Class is dismissed."

Itachi remains seated for another few moments and thinks to himself. 'These classes are starting to become unnecessary now, just like the shinobi academy did. I might as well send a shadow clone in my place next class. It should be good training as well' Itachi gets up from his desk and is greeted by Itsuki as he walks out the door.

"Hey Itachi! You want to spar today?" Itsuki asks eagerly.

"Alright." Itachi replies. After leaving the classroom the two head to the hakuda training hall.

Itsuki takes off his weights before he readies his stance. He charges at Itachi and they begin their fast paced spar. Itsuki sends a relentless stream of attacks to no avail, as Itachi counters them with ease through various applications of grapples and footwork. They continue their spar for thirty minutes as Itachi continues to give various pointers in regards to Itsuki's form and strikes. Itachi starts to notice Itsuki's blows becoming dull and sloppy.

"This is enough sparring for today. Next session you should keep your weights on to help with your physical strength and reiatsu control. Your end goal should be to be able to fight while maintaining steady reiatsu flow to your legs." Itachi says when Itsuki is unable to get up.

"Okay." Itsuki nods in agreement and takes a moment to catch his breath.

"Remember you only just started training. You can only improve from here on out." Itachi said as Itsuki sits down for a moment to relax.

Itsuki gets back up after his short break and he puts a little bit of reiatsu back into his weights. Itachi and Itsuki spar for another 5 minutes before Itsuki has to take another break again.

"It is incredibly hard to focus while using these weights. They are easy to maintain while I'm sitting in class or walking through the courtyard but in an actual fight I keep making them overly heavy…" Itsuki attempts to sit down to rest again. As Itsuki sat down, he felt his legs throbbing with pain now that he stopped moving. He releases the flow of reiatsu on his weights.

"Hey Itachi I think I'll call it a day. I'm about at my limit. I'll probably go to the library and study a bit on what Ounabara lectured earlier." Itsuki says as he gets back up.

"That's fine. I plan on training a bit longer." Itachi remarks. Itsuki waves and heads towards the library. Itachi exits the hakuda hall and sees the kido training field in front of him. He notices multiple paper targets set up and a lone student practicing on them. The student was firing red orbs from his palms, a technique that Itachi had never seen before. Intrigued, Itachi goes closer to watch.

"Hado 31: Shakkaho!" The student yells. He raises his arm straight in front of him with his palm facing the target. A red orb forms and launches towards the target. Upon impact, it explodes and as the smoke clears the target is incinerated. As the student wipes the sweat from his forehead, he notices Itachi observing him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hmm, you are?" The young man stops his practice and looks inquisitively at Itachi.

"Pardon me. I was interested in your hado spell." Itachi replies.

"Ah, it's not a problem then, It's a spell you can learn once you reach the higher classes anyway". The youth smiled and replied.

"Could you show me how to perform the technique?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, I don't mind showing you. By the way I'm Ukitake Tatsumi. I'm in my 6th year." Tatsumi held out his hand.

"Uchiha Itachi. 1st year." Itachi shakes Tatsumi's hand.

"Ahhh you're a new student then. Well this technique might be difficult for you to pull off at first so don't worry if you don't get it on your first try. First thing to know is the incantation. I'll show you the hado while using the incantation. It is a lot stronger with the incantation and easier to use but takes longer to perform. Now watch carefully" Tatsumi raises his palm up towards a target as he concentrates his reiatsu.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31: Shakkaho!"

A large amount of reiatsu surges around Tatsumi's palm. Itachi activates his sharingan at this time to observe it in greater detail. He sees a greater mass of reiatsu than before being condensed into a red sphere. The red sphere is launched at the target and the explosion is greater than before.

"Phew...that drains a lot out of me." Tatsumi comments. Itachi deactivates his sharingan as Tatsumi turns around to look at him.

"You think you want to give it a go?" Tatsumi asks. Itachi does not reply but simply steps up next to Tatsumi. He raises his palm at a target.

"Okay so the incantation goes like-" Tatsumi is cut off as Itachi starts reciting it.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31: Shakkaho!" Itachi says as a giant red orb of reiatsu is shot towards the target. As it hits the target, it explodes and Itachi takes a knee to the ground in fatigue. 'I put too much reiatsu into that while also trying to maintain reiatsu flow to my weights. I should deactivate the weights while I learn new kido.' Itachi thinks to himself.

Itachi looks back up and sees Tatsumi offering a hand to help him up. Itachi takes his hand and stands back up as he deactivates his weights. 'I should be able to do it much easier without having to focus on the weights now.'

"I can't believe you got that on your first try!" Tatsumi compliments. "The first time I tried, it blew up in my face!" Tatsumi laughs awkwardly. Itachi couldn't help but let out a faint smile upon hearing this.

'I'll try it without incantation now.' Itachi thinks as he extends his palm out in front again and concentrates.

"Hado 31: Shakkaho." A smaller red orb shoots out of his palm. Upon hitting the target, a smaller red explosion is formed. Tatsumi looks at Itachi with surprise.

"Uchiha you're really talented! You did that without an incantation! It" He exclaims.

"If it isn't a bother, would you be able to show me other kido?" Itachi questions. Tatsumi shakes his head and replies.

"Ah sorry I'm just about at my limit. I've been training all day. But the next time we see each other I can show you." Tatsumi replies

"Thank you for the lesson." Itachi says to Tatsumi. Tatsumi smiles and waves goodbye as he leaves the training field. At this point the sun was already beginning to set and the training field was getting darker. Itachi looks around.

Itachi starts walking towards the Hoho training field. The field was large with plenty of open space. Itachi looks around.

'No one around. It's a great time to practice'. Itachi thinks before summoning a shadow clone.

"Lets begin." he says to clone before they distance themselves. He reactivates his weights and the two begin to spar

Itachi starts to weave a series of hand signs.

Rat-Tiger-Dog-Ox-Hare-Tiger!

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Itachi breathes out a volley of fireballs that fly towards his clone. The clone flash disappears from view and reappears to the left of Itachi send a kick towards his ċhėst. Itachi blocks the strike and uses the force to propel himself backwards. After recovering his balance, he steps forward and disappears, and reappears in front of his clone sending his right fist forward. The clone parries the swing and pivots around to send an elbow strike towards Itachi. Itachi uses his left palm to block the clones elbow before sending a kick towards his side. The clone is unable to block the strike on time and is sent flying back. The clone recovers and stands up once again to face Itachi.

'Enough of the warm up. Let's try this with the sharingan.' Itachi and his clone activate their sharingan before beginning their spar once again. Fifteen minutes pass as Itachi and his shadow clone continue using their Hoho and Hakuda techniques to fight each other. Eventually they both tired out and the clone disappeared as Itachi falls backwards panting and sprawled out on the ground.

'Once I become more proficient at kido, I'll see if there is a way to incorporate it with ninjutsu.' Itachi thought to himself as he laid down. Itachi continues to stare at the night sky for several minutes before he decides to get back up and starts heading towards the dormitories. On his way in, he sees an exhausted Itsuki also making his way over to the dorms. He nods in greeting.

"Hey Itachi. I reviewed some material at the library, then went for a run at the field. How'd your session go?" Itsuki asked.

"Alright." Itachi replied.

"Well we have the next few days off before classes again. Can we spar again tomorrow? Itsuki asked.

Itachi nodded in agreement before bidding his farewell and going to his room.