Crows x Souls

A/N: I'm still alive, for those wondering, but I broke the screen of my phone on Tuesday night I think. So yeah, no typing, no reading, no scrolling, no watching....until now that is. 

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“Their reality may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?” — Itachi Uchiha. 

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Itachi, despite being relieved from duty, made it a point to keep an eye on all the Captains, Lieutenants, and 3rd Seats – as much as he could anyway – without alerting the Kidō Corps or 12th Division sensory formation. 

He couldn’t keep an effective watch because of the sheer size of the Gotei 13 and trying to gain more ground would definitely trigger the anti-surveillance systems because controlling his clones effectively will become even harder since too much identical Reiatsu in certain areas will definitely garner attention. 

So he limited himself as much as he could to draw out their movement patterns and how frequently they came in and left the Seireitei. He even kept a makeshift bingo book on all his suspected targets, both minor and major. 

He used his crows mostly to monitor outside movements to specific distances since they were harder to sense. And it was because of this caution of his that his crows picked up a familiar energy signature and since he could connect his vision with theirs, along with their ability to use the Sharingan to a limited degree, there was no way he could forget the perverted way a Shinigami’s Reiatsu twisted into that of a Hollow. 

His main body was already crossing the gates when he paused briefly to think on his path of action.

Calling forth a crow, he stared at it as his eyes turned into his complete Sharingan before turning back to his normal eyes, an action mirrored by the crow. 

“Go to Yoruichi.”

If this had been a few years back, he would have gone at it alone even if he knew better, but now it was a little different. 

He more than anyone knew the value of having supporting comrades. He was bound to fail if he took the whole burden upon himself, even if he had questioned her capabilities. 

He looked at the sky and noted that it was slowly getting darker. “What an ill omen.” He muttered. 

He utilized his Shunpo to his limit as he hurried to where the crow had picked up the energy signature – which was a whole lot of minutes or even hours away. 

…… 

[2nd Division, Captain’s Office] 

Yoruichi was in her office with Soi Fon who had promptly resumed her duties with fervor after being unable to officially serve her Lady for months now. It was so heart wrenching – furthermore increasing her anger and hate of Itachi. 

It was in this mood that Itachi’s crow flew in through the window, alerting the both of them as it flew straight for Yoruichi who watched it’s movement with interest. 

“Itachi? Is something wrong?” Seeing the three dotted patterns on the crow’s eyes was a dead giveaway on whose action was this. 

“Lady Yoruichi, is something wrong?” Soi Fon asked upon hearing Yoruichi exclaim. 

Yoruichi held out her hand for the crow to perch, to which it did, and stared at the eyes of the bird that seemed to be telling her something. 

She frowned as she felt a probing sensation in her mind that was identical to Itachi’s, except that this wasn’t a probing or mental attack – it was a message. 

She let the probing go in and before her eyes and senses were the same visual that Itachi’s surveillance crow had witnessed. 

—!! 

Yoruichi standing up immediately startled Soi Fon who jumped up and held her breath for anything Yoruichi might say. 

“We’re on the move, Soi Fon. I’ll contact Kisuke on the way.”

She disappeared from the office before followed by a confused Soi Fon who just ignorantly followed behind her. 

“Is something wrong with Itachi, Lady Yoruichi?” Soi Fon gathered her courage to ask after they left the Seireitei.

Yoruichi scoffed, half amused and half troubled. “Something is wrong, but not with Itachi… if we dally any longer that is. Try to keep up, Soi Fon, I’m going on ahead.”

……

Itachi who’d been running for almost an hour finally slowed down as he drew nearer to the place his crow showed him. 

Something had destroyed his crow but that was the least of Itachi’s worries as he saw the malevolent Reiatsu building up and the intensity of it was one that was way above that of any Hollow he’s fought. 

“Impossible… A Captain.” 

It was too spontaneous. From his crows, he knew that Shinji and a few Shinigami were dealing with a rather persistent Hollow that had killed half of the former squad sent after it. 

And with that thought came another grim realization. 

This group wasn’t the only ones currently on missions. There were a few Captains with mismatched squads in different Districts of the Rukongai at this very moment. Some were even around this area. 

He instantly formed two clones who immediately left without him giving them any directives. The mission objective was clear. 

RAAARGHHHHH! 

Not wasting a single moment any longer, Itachi drew out both of his blades and rushed towards Shinji who was currently slaughtering the squad members around him, which was when another Reiatsu started acting up. It was a few miles away but Itachi could feel it along with the realization that darkened his visage further. 

Another Captain. 

Shinji in his berserk rage swung his sword at a terror frozen Shinigami, almost cleaving the poor man in two had Itachi been a second too slow. 

“Captain Shinji, listen to me!” Itachi tried reaching to any part of his consciousness as they clashed but it was to no avail. 

He could see the Hollow mask that had almost fully covered Shinji’s face and a pair of maddened eyes behind the bony exterior. 

Shinji stabbed his blade through Itachi but that turned out to be an illusion only for him to be blindsided as a Kidō hit him straight in the back. 

Just because he couldn’t fully utilize his illusions on Shinji because of his berserk Reiatsu, didn’t mean he couldn’t use it on the environment. 

‘Another one is coming.’

Shinji widely swung his blade, sending tainted slash waves of Reiatsu to destroy everything around them but none of them touched Itachi who had promptly retreated. 

He could see how the two foreign yet similar Reiryoku were meshing and feeding into each other and raising it up by a level. 

“Burn and Reveal, Truth-seeker.”

He released his Shikai while jumping midair and turned to face the incoming Hollow who turned out to be Kensei Mugurama, Captain of the Ninth, approaching with a short blade in his hands. 

He turned his blade towards Kensei and sent an arc of black flames towards the Captain but Kensei in response swung his blade and a great draft of wind flew out to collide with Itachi’s flames. 

‘That’s his Shikai, Tachikaze. Wind manipulation and an explosive trait to his attacks.’

Quickly recalling the information he had on both Captains, Itachi landed in the middle of both Hollowfied Captains with the other Shinigami having already fled the area. 

Two Captains. Two berserk Captains with Hollow abilities. 

FTHOOOM~

The slight updraft of air behind Itachi alerted him of the incoming attack at the same time that Kensei sent a huge vacuum of air that ripped through everything in its path. 

The air vacuum exploded on hitting Itachi and was then impacted by the energy slash Shinji sent, resulting in a bigger explosion that engulfed Itachi. 

“Bakudō #79: Kuyō Shibari.”

Nine ball-sized black holes appeared around Shinji and Kensei sealing their movements with the force of the black holes, but Itachi wasn’t done. 

“Katon: Gōenkyo.”

A huge ball of fire, like a small meteor, fell down towards the two immobilized Hollow Captains. 

“Enton.”

The blazing meteor gained a black tint as it neared them, both of which were widely releasing their Reiatsu in a bid to escape the bind and it was working, albeit they were a few seconds too slow. 

“Kai.”

The sealing black holes and the small meteor exploded upon Itachi’s final intonation and blanketed everything in miles with its magnitude of force and the dreary Reiatsu it carried. 

Itachi landed on the ground and looked at the Reiatsu of the two Captains to check if they were still alive, and they were. Kensei was better off than Shinji but not that it mattered as the both of them were pretty banged up. 

Suddenly his eyes detected an instantaneous movement which he moved to dodge, and he did but… 

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

Itachi looked at his arm in confusion, knowing that he had dodged the attack but he somehow ended up getting cut. 

A faint aroma entered his nose prompting him to look at where the attack came from, and that was when he immediately understood what had happened. 

Shinji Hirako’s Shikai, Sakanade, had been released at the moment before the fire jutsu hit them. A Shikai that controls the sense of direction of everyone that it affects, i.e anyone that inhales the sweet aroma it emits. 

The two Hollows struggled to stand up, both with their Shikai active, and yet Itachi was still not entirely focused on the fight. 

‘Where are they?’ 

How the hell did something as drastic as this happen right under everyone’s noses. 

Still, he had to subdue these Captains without killing them – and one of them just so happens to use illusions. 

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