Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach

Lol I just realized I put Itachi and Shisui as a captain in the last chapter... just think of him as having the abilities of a captain but not the rank. My bad. I looked over my first chapter to make sure that I was keeping in line with what I wrote originally. I found a ton of errors. I

l'll fix those eventually...


The cave they used for training was impressive. It cut off the majority of reiatsu that poured from the cavern and effectively hid them from a surprise attack. Ichigo had woken up shortly after he had started to recover from his wounds. Itachi decided to drag him straight to the training grounds before explaining anything to him. This of course would leave anybody howling in rage.

"Yoruichi-san! Who is this guy anyways? What are we doing in this cave?" Ichigo raged behind the pair when Itachi withdrew his sealed sword that began to take form. "Wha-"

"Uchiha Itachi. I'm going to teach you how to achieve the next level of your zanpakuto, bankai." The figure finished taking shape to reveal a physical version of Karasu.

"Great there's another weirdo. Mind explaining to me why your sword became a guy?" Karasu chuckled darkly behind Itachi though the mask only showed blood red Mangekyou. Ichigo met the eyes of the zanpakuto and let out an involuntary shudder at the cold gaze. Itachi tilted the corner of his lips in amusement before motioning to Karasu beside him.

"This 'guy' as you so put it, is my zanpakuto Karasu. Tell me, based on your wounds and wild fighting style, have you had any lengthy period of time for training?"

Ichigo sighed and began to recall the events over the past few days. "Well...Hat n' Clogs trained me for several days before I came to the Seireitei and I've fought several opponents here. Why?"

Itachi would've sighed inwardly if Karasu hadn't done it audibly for him. The ANBU clad sword stepped forward before drawing his blade and pointing it at Ichigo. Itachi stood back with a calculating gaze while Yoruichi took the spot next to him. There was complete silence for several moments as Ichigo tensed for an attack.

"Good. It seems that you understand the idea of an enemy. However, your fighting skills and reiatsu control are still lacking. Your sword style is shoddy at best, and you can not make full use of your power with that fluctuating reiatsu of yours. It's worse than Itachi's was in the beginning."

"I take offense to that Karasu." Itachi retorted calmly from across the cave. Karasu chuckled again before sheathing his sword. "It seems Karasu has made his point." Karasu vanished leaving a sword that reformed in Itachi's hand.

"What, that I suck at fighting? I get it already, so are we going to train for this bankai whatever it is, or are we going to lecture me all day?" Itachi gave a hard glare at the boy before vanishing into thin air and reappearing right behind Ichigo in a flash with his sword held to the boy's jugular.

"Don't get me wrong Kurosaki Ichigo. I do have intentions of helping you however, if you get on my nerves and you are a waste of time teaching, I will not hesitate to kill you." Yoruichi let out her mad grin at the thought of seeing the prodigy beat the kid up. She wanted to see what the newbie third seat could do after hearing the reputation he made for himself.

Ichigo clenched his zanpakuto tightly as he drew it from his back with a great amount of trepidation. "You...you're serious aren't you?"

"Yes. It would be better for me to kill someone who would get in the way than for them to get someone else killed along with them on the battlefield."

"Is this way you shinigami always operate?" Itachi shook his head.

"This is the way of us shinobi. We must be harsh if our students are to survive. The Soul Society has yet to see fighting to such extreme measures, but my nation sent children at the age of ten onto the battlefield. If you get in the way, you get yourself hurt and drag your team with you. Do you have the resolves to know that your friends may get hurt because of you Kurosaki Ichigo?" Various emotions flickered across Ichigo's face in anger, sadness, and finally determination.

"They won't get hurt because of me. You are going to teach me and I won't take no for an answer Itachi-sensei." Itachi quirked an eyebrow and went into his sword stance as he prepared for Ichigo's first attack. Ichigo didn't charge but instead spoke several words that surprised Itachi. "And when I beat you, I want you to tell me about anything else I should know."

"So, your wanting me to teach you full time as your sensei?" Ichigo's grin grew wide as he swung his sword haphazardly at Itachi. Itachi blocked it with ease not even moving an inch.

"Pathetic. By swinging your shikai without a sense of direction, you fail to cover for your weaknesses." Itachi swung his leg up and kicked Ichigo halfway across the room where there was a blast of rocks from the impact. Ichigo groaned and shook his head causing rock dust to fall out his hair as he sat up.

"That's one strong kick. Now I really want to learn from you." Ichigo braced himself once more as Itachi brought his sword up again.

"You have immense reiatsu Kurosaki Ichigo. You have the power to surpass Aizen, Yamamoto, and even that devil Kenpachi. It is all a matter of whether or not you can bring it under control." Itachi lowered his sword and brought out Yoruichi's bankai machine. "I will give you tips on how to discover your bankai, but in return I give you one day to unlock bankai."

"One day? How do you expect me to master something that takes you shinigami ten years to master?"

"I did not say you had to master it, merely unlock it. One day to unlock, and then I shall begin teaching you proper sword techniques known only to the ANBU of Konoha." Itachi motioned towards the machine. "Place your sword into this machine. It will force your sword to materialize, but you must be in tune with the reiatsu of your sword. This was easy for me as I am used to sensing the chakra in all creatures."

"But I suck at sensing reiatsu! How do you expect me to sense it?"

"It is your own reiatsu. By becoming aware of your sword's spirit, you have become aware of yourself. I want you to enter a meditative state and seek out your zanpakuto's reiatsu. Become familiar with it, then return to me to begin your test."

"But I don't know how to meditate, Itach-sensei!" Itachi nodded and sat in front of Ichigo with his own zanpakuto in his lap.

"Assume this position and focus solely on the reiatsu of your zanpakuto. Speak with him, and he shall teach you because you both originate from the same soul. The fundamentals of a shinigami that most hesitate to learn and overlook the importance of such things." Itachi watched calmly as Ichigo slowed his breathing down as he began to communicate with his zanpakuto.

Yoruichi sat down beside Itachi with her infamous smirk. "How old are you anyways kid? That's including the time you've spent alive."

"Seventy-two total."

"You died young then. Have you ever thought what life would've been like if you were alive right now?" Itachi glared at her invasive questions.

"Why ask me this?"

"Why? I wonder too. Maybe it's because I'm curious. Why would Urahara inform you and not me?"

"Because I had only been involved with his plans for about a year, but I felt the need to be secretive. I didn't want you to catch word because your reaction had to be legitimate when I came to assess the group. I originally thought it would not be very good, but I am having second thoughts about Kurosaki-san."

"You seem to know your stuff when it comes to fighting." Itachi slid his gaze from Ichigo to Yoruichi.

"Hn." Itachi clenched his hand on his zanpakuto. The woman next to him had taken out several sticks of dango and soon he was eyeing one of them.

"You want one? I brought them because we were going to be training." She held out one from the fifty other trays of dango and handed to Itachi who took it tentatively. After fifty years in the Soul Society, he was till nervous about receiving things from other people. Yet another habit from life, he supposed.

"I heard you were banished from the Soul Society. Kisuke-san only gave me the bare minimum. Care to fill me in on the details?"

"Well...I basically abducted him from his trial with Central 46. There's not much to add to the story other than the fact that Aizen set everyone up. But that was easily deducible by a guy like you."

"Hn." Itachi picked up another dango as he watched Ichigo grunt in frustration. Itachi furrowed his brow when he felt a strange presence that was a vaguely familiar sensation to him. Yoruichi noticed this but couldn't seem to pick up his source of discomfort.

"What is it?" She responded in a lowered tone.

"Hollow. Kurosaki-san has a hollow's reiatsu hidden in him. I've had a similar experience, and as such I can identify it easier than most." Itachi paused. "Actually, I believe that you can only sense it if you've had hollow reiatsu injected forcefully into yourself."

"I'm assuming this happened to you?" Itachi nodded and brought his hands up on in a seal as he set his sword in his lap.

"We shinobi have two sources of energy. We have both chakra and reishi, but death seals up the chakra and our bodies slowly consume the reserves over time. New chakra cannot be created, only converted from reishi in short bursts. I can no longer cast my jutsu without the help of Karasu." His hands flipped through signs faster than Yoruichi could see.

"What are you doing?"

"A jutsu for sealing. I am going to seal the naturally occurring hollow powers from being brought to the surface. It will only release in times of a desperate situation." Itachi stood up with his sword clenched tightly in one hand and his other hand in a seal before pointing his two forefingers at Ichigo's chest. A bright light burst forth causing Ichigo to go flying from the force. The teen grumpily sat up with a string of curse words while rubbing his head.

"You bastard! What the hell was that for?" Itachi stared impassively as he began to sip a cup of green tea that materialized out of nowhere. He offered another to Yorichi while completely ignoring the teen.

"You want some? It's fresh. I just used a dimensional kido spell." Yoruichi stared at the cup with a mystified expression before grabbing it and taking a sip.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Where the hell did you get tea out of thin air anyways?" Ichigo went of on a rant that lasted for a good few minutes all about lousy teachers, stupid rescues, and annoying captains. Itachi waited for the complaints to die of before leaning forward to rest on his arm.

"Are you quite done yet? If so, I shall move you on as your reiatsu seems to be pulsing with your sword." Itachi narrowed red eyes. 'He has a better connection with his sword now that the oppressive reiatsu is out of the way.'

"The next step?" Itachi nodded and grabbed Ichigo's sword before going through several handsigns. The sword shuddered and an old man in a black cape that moved as if there was wind even though there was none materialized. Yoruichi whistled in amazement at such a feat.

"Not every day you see an illusionist able to pull out a manifestation. There's only been one other I've known able to do such a thing." She commented causing Ichigo to stare at the stoic man in front of him.

'He impressed Yoruichi? All she did was comment on how stupid I was...so this guy must be something special then? He's teaching me, so he must know what he's doing. I've yet to see him show any emotion other than a smirk though...' Ichigo tensed as Zangetsu raised the shikai form to Ichigo's face.

"I am impressed. The girl is right." Zangetsu remarked with a face as stoic as Itachi's. "Yet I also sense that you are a former shinobi." Itachi didn't reply and Zangetsu seemed to understand. "Ichigo, if you are going to achieve the next stage of release, you must pass my test in order to obtain bankai." Swords of varying shapes and sizes came out of thin air and littered the training grounds. "Find my blade among the rest of these. If you do not complete it in time for Rukia's execution you understand what will happen. You will also never achieve bankai."

Ichigo gave a bloodthirsty grin and glanced over at Itachi who merely nodded his head in approval. "Well then, it seems I will have to live up to my new sensei's expectations. I think I'm going to like training under this guy." With a roar, Ichigo launched himself at Zangetsu with the nearest blade.


Rukia sat in the white pristine tower that held only the most dangerous criminals sentenced to the worst death of the Seireitei. Being stuck in the tower for many days left her time to think. A tower of repentance. All she could think of was how she failed Kaien, Byakuya, and now she would be hurting Itachi once more. But worst of all, she had failed Ichigo.

She had brought him into this mess and now she could sense the entire Seireitei in an uproar from the sheer amounts of reiatsu that had been exploding from everywhere. There was a strange signature that felt like Itachi, but underneath everything else. A controlling reiatsu designed to smother another presence. It was not offensive and would not normally be noticed in everyday life due to the searching nature it emitted.

'Itachi...this reiatsu. Who are you trying to find? What is going on for you to take action in such a covert way? Ichigo are you holding up well?' Lowering her head slightly she saw the entire Seireitei spread out before her.

Alarms began to spring up all around Seireitei and people began to rush out of the barracks. Straining her ears she tried to discover what they were saying, but gave up after a few minutes. What in the world was happening for so many alarms?


"All hands available are to apprehend Abarai Renji and his yet to be identified accomplice. All captains are to report for a mandatory meeting. " A hell butterfly flew past the lazing Kyouraku's head. Shisui paused his laughter and took a sip of his sake.

"Looks like someone's causing trouble again, right captain?" Kyouraku raised his hat with his laid back smile.

"Seems like it. I should get going I guess. Thanks for the sake Shisui-kun."

"Yeah. But captain...I would be careful. I have the strangest feeling that Itachi is behind all these alarms."

"Oh? I've known that boy for some time now. What makes you think it's him causing the trouble this time?" Shisui picked up his sword and placed the headband that took the place of his Konoha band on his head.

"Well, I've been his best friend since childhood. He was never one for fighting or killing ever since the valley incident when he was four. The Kyuubi struck not too long afterward and decimated half of our village. He never fights fair and square after seeing people rush to their deaths. Plus, it's not in his nature to go head long into something."

Kyouraku became somewhat serious as he pulled his hat down to the base of his neck. "So your saying..."

"Yes. Itachi's orchestrated part of the alarms sounding. Itachi is loyal, but to allow someone who saved his life to die would go against his true feelings."

"But that boy uses crows and kido. Everytime I ask him what his abilities are they becomes something different when I think I have it figured out. Don't tell me you've figured it out..." Shisui grinned and shrugged.

"My guess is illusions. My zanpakuto controls the mind, but his...his can show you your worst nightmares. I'm not sure how he activates it anymore, but his abilities are as numerous as mine. We carried abilities over from our lifetime, but slowly they have begun to fade and transfer to the sword. In other words, remnant chakra from life transfers to the sword which in turn becomes more powerful."

"A living conductor that has stolen all of your powers. Is that why every Uchiha has blazing red eyes then?"

"Yes. And Itachi's most infamous ability is deception, illusions by pointing his sword at you or staring you in the eye. A truly terrifying power to beat because how can you fight someone wielding a sword when you can't look at his arm to block a swing or read the small facial expressions an opponent might give? Sure there's always the feet, but I'm sure you see now how this could be his mess."

"Yes. Thanks for the info Shisui -kun. Now I have an assignment for you."

Shisui stiffened into a salute with a hard gaze. "Yes sir?"

"Catch Abarai-kun and Itachi-kun if you can."

"On it!" With a flash, Shisui vanished with his infamous teleportation. Kyouraku smiled and turned to go to the meeting.

"It seems that someone's been causing a ruckus and Itachi-kun's the only one who knows the truth." Placing his hat on his head once more, he pulled it low over his eyes. "Well, he always was the one to figure things out before everybody else."


Itachi smirked as Ichigo drew on the power of his sword in order to seek out the real one. The kid wasn't the best at sensing the sword's true form using reishi, but he managed it somehow. A bonus was that he finished ahead of time leaving them a day to continue with training. Itachi planned to cast a special genjutsu that alerts him to harm of the target's life. A useful technique taught to genjutsu masters of the ANBU for when they were escorting a high ranking figure.

Ichigo had all of his wounds rewrapped as Itachi used a minor healing jutsu on the boy with the aid of Karasu who was currently materialized. As usual, he was drinking green tea while chaitting with Yoruichi about philosophy.

"Hey, Itachi-san." Itachi looked up from the most detrimental wound he was focusing on closing to the best of his poor medical skills.

"What is it?" Ichigo scratched the back of his head and pointed at Karasu.

"What's up with your zanpakutou? It's got a strange personality compared to mine who I almost never understand. How do you do it?" Itachi released the green chakra that Karasu had been feeding into his hands after giving a once over on the wound and wrapping gauze around it.

"Your sword is like a second soul. It is a part of you and can even embody the things you refuse to show to anyone. For example, Karasu has manifested a calm spirit and a love for tea. However his joking side is most certainly not part of my active personality," Itachi gave a glare at the spirit which waved at him, "but only your sword can teach you about itself. Your zanpakutou should be your best friend because that means you have reached an understanding with the sword. If a bond is strong enough you can actively speak to each other in a battle."

"Understand my sword..." Ichigo got pensive before throwing his hands in the air with a cry and rubbing his head furiously. "I have no idea how to go about doing that damnit!" Itachi sighed a motioned for Karasu to come over to him. Karasu obliged and took his place beside Itachi with a stiff salute.

"Here is my exercise for you." Itachi made a signal with two fingers and Karasu made a copy of himself which became Itachi's sword while Karasu had a replica. "There will be times when you are outnumbered against a skilled opponent. This will mean double the reiatsu and difficulty."

"Wait I'm supposed to fight you both?" Ichigo nerviusly twitched while retaining a grin. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Call upon you zanpakutou in the middle of battle and defeat both of us. Do not fear yourself, your blade, or your opponent. If you fail to follow my instructions..." Itachi raised his flaming sword and began to bring it down. Ichigo's eyes widened and withdrew Zangetsu just in time to have his sword thrown harshly to the left with a single stroke.

"You will die." Karasu finished as he swept behind Ichigo with a kick that threw him into the nearest wall. Ichigo cursed under his breath and stood up on now shaky legs using Zangetsu.

'How am I supposed to beat this guy? I've heard all sorts of freaky things about him from Yoruichi. He wants me to fight him two on one now?'

'Don't forget what I have told you Ichigo. Don't forget your teachings in the midst of a battle."

'Zangetsu? This is the first time since Kenpachi that you've spoken to me in a fight.'

'It is not the first Ichigo. You have refused to listen to me. Now then pay attention here he comes! Block Ichigo!' Itachi's sword came down in a masterful arc that ended with a clang on Zangetsu. 'Karasu is going to come from behind!' Sure enough the materialized sword came at blinding speed from behind with a downward slash that was also blocked as Ichigo sidestepped in a way that both swords were blocked before jumping over the pair.

'Any special moves I can launch right about now?' Ichigo was still partly mid-air watching the duo charge up two techniques based on the reiatsu shift that had been crushing Ichigo under its weight.

'Charge up reiatsu in my blade and you will perform Getsuga Tenshou when it is released with full force. A concentrated wave similar to Itachi's Amaterasu.'

'Oh right that black flame thing! I'll try it then.' Itachi haulted and Karasu pulled back and vanished to lend his power fully to Itachi. Both swords began to glow as reishi was charged into them; one blue and the other with dancing black flames.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

"Amaterasu!" Both attacks clashed and Getsuga Tensho pushed back Amaterasu which was eating away at the attack and making it weaker. Itachi jumped out of the way as the attack smashed into the opposite wall. Yoruichi let out a whistle of surprise and clapped her hands with a smirk.

"Looks like the boy is almost ready Itachi-san!" Itachi spared her a glance before sheathing his sword. He passed by her without looking at her whispering his directions in her ear.

"I have located and freed Abarai Renji. The Seireitei is in chaos which will give you a few more minutes to accomplish the destruction of the Soukyoku. I want you to wrap things up with Ichigo-san while I go rescue Abarai-san from my cousin."

"What of Bakuya? Surely he won't allow this offense to his laws to go unnoticed."

"Hn." Itachi ignored Yoruichi and vanished into a flock of crows and vanished with the birds that flew away.

"Well he's likeable to an extent...but he just pissed me off." Calming herself down she turned to Ichigo. "All right! Let's finish this up then rescue Rukia why don't we?"


Shisui sighed as cut through the Itachi clone that was surprisingly hard to take down for a clone. A shadow clone which probably meant that Itachi knew of his location and was headed here already. He had been suspicious when Itachi didn't come back to the barracks or the Uchiha household. He had been worried since Itachi being on par with most of the captains had vanished shortly after Aizen's death at the hands of a mystery killer.

Asking the people Itachi usually spoke with on a daily basis hadn't helped and he still wasn't back hours before the execution. With the recent break out he could only conclude that this was at least partially planned out by Itachi. He knew that Itachi would not kill Aizen because there was no reason to, so that only left who was behind Aizen's murder. Itachi probably knew which was the reason why he was breaking Abarai out of jail.

"Y-you! Your Uchiha Shisui!" Renji gripped his sword as he prepared for a major fight in his weakened state. He understood that he might not make it out alive, heck going against this guy in his normal state was practically suicide. A man said to be on par with Itachi and even slightly faster than Yoruichi.

"Indeed I am. Unfortunately for you I'm not taking any autographs; I'm afraid I'm on a mission right now. Abarai Renji, you are under arrest for breaking out of prison." Renji shuddered slightly as a wave of reiatsu poured off of the man.

'Freaking Elementals, they all have insane reiatsu from the start! I'm am screwed if he gets a hit on me.' And with that, two zanpakutou clashed.


Cliffhanger! Mainly because I don't want to squish too much into one chapter. I know I haven't updated in months, but I had finals and other stuff. But I'll get working on the next one and have it up as soon as possible.