uzumakialayinagider: Seireitei's power lies in its Captains, Vice-Captains, and high seated officers but there are more duties than just fighting. All of that cannon fodder is responsible for the trafficking of souls to the afterlife, and the elimination of low-level Hollows. How just 3,000 soldiers can police the entire world is beyond me.
Lednacek: It's not exactly smart to destroy a place that you're residing in.
So it turns out I can leave a review to my own stories. I did it for last chapter, in the most blatant display of self-congratulations and ass-kissing eva!
Chapter 45: Destruir un Dios
The blades of Aizen and Naruto met, and a torrent of air and reiatsu blasted the vicinity. In terms of raw strength, the two of them were unmatched. They used a reiatsu that was almost otherworldly, and their attacks were so strong that they almost caused in a ripple in the space around them. Naruto ground his blade against Aizen's, trying to knock the blade out of his hands. But Aizen's grip was too strong, and he managed to turn the attack back on Naruto all too easily.
"Amazing. Every time I see either one of them in battle, I can hardly believe my eyes..." Ulquiorra mused, as the two combatants flashed several times, their blades meeting once again as they tried to out-speed one another. Naruto was faring much better in this department.
Aizen's reiatsu was pure, controlled, and it sucked the life out of anyone not strong enough to resist. But Naruto's was so turbulent, wild, and powerful that he seemed to outclass the ruler of Las Noches in pure reiatsu, and his Sonido seemed to trump Aizen's Shunpo ever so slightly. Despite this, the Shinigami had his own advantages. He could read Naruto's attacks better than Naruto could read his, and overall seemed to be better in swordsmanship. It was an even battle in a whole new way, though neither opponent seemed worried.
"Naruto's trying to outclass him in sheer power. For once, he isn't trying to trick his opponent. He knows that Aizen is unlikely to fall for such tactics at his level of skill..." Ulquiorra analyzed. The two were still trying to outspeed each other, and Ulquiorra could barely see the combat as they seemed to flash in and out of existence in split-second intervals.
"Aaaahhh, they're really going wild over there, aren't they?"
Ulquiorra focused on Gin, the one who had just recently spoke. He was standing just opposite Ulquiorra, with Tousen at his side, while both of their bosses duelled. Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes; he was left to face the two former Captains alone, at least until Harribel arrived with back-up.
"That's enough, Ichimaru... These two are now considered traitors. For Aizen-sama's sake..." Tousen said beside him, though he trailed off as he placed a hand on his blade.
He drew it quickly, angling it as he pointed the sword at Ulquiorra.
"...we must eliminate them!" he said zealously. Gin looked at Tousen, the smile of course never fading from his face. He never made a move to draw his Zanpakutou, but instead placed a hand on the back of his head.
"If you say so, Tousen-san. Would ya mind going ahead of me; I don't feel too comfortable fightin' a guy who's supposed to be our comrade, so I'll just sit this one out. You should be more than enough for him anyway, especially with that..." Ichimaru said casually. Naruto and Aizen's fight was the only noise that could be heard, as Tousen stared blankly at Gin with his blind eyes The tension could be cut with a knife.
"..."
"...Very well," he said finally, realizing that he wasn't going to get any help on this one. Ulquiorra mimicked Tousen, drawing his blade lightning fast and holding it at his side.
"You may be a commander of Las Noches, but that doesn't mean you're above the Espada in terms of combat ability..." Ulquiorra said. Tousen said nothing, and only "stared" at Ulquiorra in scrutiny. He slashed his sword to the side, before he held it at a ninety degree angle to his right. Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow; he knew that stance.
"Cry, Suzumushi," he stated, before a black-and-white wave emanated from his Zanpakutou and spread out over the area. Ulquiorra closed his eyes and released his reiatsu. Tousen's Shikai was trying to override his hearing and knock him unconscious. He heard a high-pitched buzzing noise, but his reiatsu deafened it to him, and Tousen's Shikai was rendered ineffective.
Ulquiorra's eyes snapped open as he felt Tousen move, and his blade moved up just in time to block Tousen's, which was once again in its sealed state. Ulquiorra pulled back for a split-second, charging reiatsu into his blade. He then thrust his sword forward in a flurry of quick jabs, reiatsu shooting off from every stab.
Tousen avoided them all deftly, swaying along with the attacks naturally as if he wasn't even blind. When Ulquiorra paused in his assault, Tousen thrust forward, his blade angled straight for a stab into Ulquiorra's head. Ulquiorra's blade shot up on reflex, blocking the deadly attack. The two blades ground against each other, and Tousen roared in struggle.
Ulquiorra's feet caved into the ground, as the former Captain pushed the Quinta Espada back further and further, until Ulquiorra's back was up against the wall.
Tousen mimicked his stance when he had released his Shikai earlier, but this time he also wrapped his blade around the front side of his head. A blur of illusionary blades created a trail, all of them pointed at Ulquiorra.
"Suzumushi Nishiki: Benehiko!" Tousen cried, as Ulquiorra was pinned against the wall. The illusionary blades materialized into solid shapes, all pointed horizontally at Ulquiorra.
The hundreds of blades flew forward at a ludicrous speed, impacting the wall, and going directly through it like it was butter. Ulquiorra flashed away just in time, and Tousen narrowed his blind eyes.
"From behind..." he thought, as he swung his blade upward. It met against metal, as Ulquiorra appeared in mid-air, and tried to attack Tousen's backside.
The stoic Espada put his other hand on his blade, creating more force as he began to push through Tousen's defense. Tousen noticed this as his blade was getting cut through, and he lurched to the left.
Ulquiorra retracted one hand from his blade, keeping the momentum as his blade swung down and left him open. Despite that, he used his free arm to charge up a Cero, deflecting the strike from Aizen and initiating a counter-attack that put Tousen on edge.
Tousen bounced away from the Espada, allowing Ulquiorra to turn the tides and go on the offensive. His hard, fast, and heavy blows were clearly too much for a sealed Tousen, but the former Captain held his own anyway.
All throughout this, neither combatant said absolutely anything. Gin was on the sidelines idly, watching the two battles take place with a passing degree of interest. Ulquiorra was faring much better than he had expected.
Tousen bit his lower lip; he was beginning to get frustrated. First, Gin wouldn't help him at all, and now he was being overwhelmed by someone he should have authority over. Being the Quinta Espada, Ulquiorra was forbidden to release his Zanpakutou underneath the dome of Las Noches, but the two rebelling Arrancar had already disregarded the rules, so Tousen couldn't be sure that he wouldn't break that one either.
He had tried his Shikai on Ulquiorra, which failed to affect the Arrancar. He couldn't use his Bankai in such a closed space; it would either draw in both Aizen and Naruto, or there just wouldn't be enough space to perform it anyway. Which meant that he was left with one option.
"I'm surprised. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that I would be forced to use my newfound power before the battle even started. . ." Tousen mused, as he put his hand to his face. Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly; he had seen that stance before.
An explosion of deep purple reiatsu emerged from Tousen, so much that it made Naruto and Aizen halt in their battle. Naruto looked on as the smoke clear, and he growled in irritation.
"So... you did do that to him, after all?" he mused. Aizen simply looked at him smugly.
"I knew you were holding out on the rest of us... he's a more perfect Hollow-Shinigami hybrid, isn't he? You used the Hougyoku on him?" Naruto asked. He didn't even need Aizen to answer him on that one. When the smoke cleared, a new and improved Tousen was standing, ready for battle. His braids hung loosely from a blank Hollow mask that revealed no portion of his face.
"Oh, dear..." Gin mused over to the side.
Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes; Tousen's reiatsu was much stronger than before. Ulquiorra blinked, and Tousen was already in front of him, going in for a deadly downward slash that would no doubt be fatal.
Ulquiorra grunted and brought his blade up to block the strike, the force making the blade clatter in his eyes as he awkwardly moved back. A faint ringing sound reverberated throughout the area. Tousen was using his Shikai on top of his Hollowfication. The Espada disappeared in a split-second, reappearing wherever it looked to be clear. Tousen was on his trail the entire time.
Ulquiorra appeared in the awnings of the building, but Tousen also appeared directly above him, getting underneath his guard. He brought an elbow down on the Espada. Ulquiorra grunted; his Hierro was holding up, but damage was still done.
The force propelled him down to the ground, but before he could land in a crater, Tousen appeared before him, and kicked him upwards diagonally so he would fly into the opposite wall from where he came from.
The wind pressure prevented Ulquiorra from regaining his stance, but at the last minute he was able to plant his feet on the wall and minimize the damage he had taken from that attack.
Tousen appeared right before him with his sword at the ready, and sparks flew as Ulquiorra once again just barely blocked the attack. Tousen retaliated by shoving his blade forward in a thrust, going straight for Ulquiorra's brain. Ulquiorra shoved his hand out, redirecting the blade over to the side, despite the fact that he took some minor injuries from touching the blade.
The blade stabbed into the wall, breaking it and allowing chunks of marble or rock to fall to the floor. Ulquiorra counterattacked by stabbing his own blade forward. But the Hollowfied Tousen was prepared; he flipped over the blade using astonishing agility, and kicked Ulquiorra in the face.
The recoil produced a crater in the back of the wall, which Ulquiorra was thrust into by the blow. Tousen flipped back into mid-air, before he rushed Ulquiorra with a jab that would no doubt impale him, even with his thick Hierro.
Ulquiorra disappeared away, planting his feet on an untouched portion of the wall near the corner of the room.
He heard the whoosh of a Shunpo/Sonido from down below, and instinctively knew where Tousen would attack from next. Grasping the hilt of his Zanpakutou, he swung the blade to the right as hard as he could, and as he followed through, it met with Tousen's own blade.
Tousen wasn't prepared for that strike, and Ulquiorra was able to get underneath his guard completely, and lop off his left arm. Tousen, to his credit, didn't roar in pain and merely gave a slight flinch, though he retreated away from Ulquiorra, landing on the ground in front of Naruto and Aizen.
Gin smirked during the whole ordeal.
"It would seem that your Hollowfication has not made you as powerful as you believed, Tousen," Ulquiorra said, not even mocking the former Captain. It was as if he were stating a simple fact.
Tousen held up his arm, an expression not being visible due to his blank mask. The stump that was his arm glowed with a little bit of reiatsu, and after a few seconds, a new arm had appeared from where the old one had gotten cut off.
Over to the side, Gin smirked wider as he realized that Tousen would likely need a little help against his foe in this state. He pulled a hand out of his long sleeves, and grasped the hilt of his Zanpakutou.
His wrist was grabbed by a powerful grip before he could even think to draw it, and a blade was placed against his neck faster than he could react to properly.
"Ahh... sorry, Aizen-taichou, Tousen-san, it would appear that I got caught again..." Gin said casually, as his assailant tightened their grip on his wrist. Gin panned his eyes upward, and could make out the form of Tia Harribel standing directly behind him.
Aizen lowered his blade, before bringing it back up to block another of Naruto's strikes. He looked at Harribel dispassionately, before bringing the same look towards Gin.
"... It doesn't matter," he said finally.
"How many of the Espada are going to betray Las Noches?" Tousen asked, anger tinging into his voice at yet another betrayal by an Espada, a relatively high one at that.
"Six... but I'm on my way to getting the rest of them on my side," Naruto said, answering Tousen's question. That seemed to arouse a little bit of suspicion within Aizen, as he finally realized that his followers weren't quite so loyal.
Tousen grit his teeth, and his Zanpakutou shook in his hand. A loud noise emanated from his mask, and the Hollow material began to crack, until Tousen's mouth was visible underneath the entire thing. The deep purple reiatsu covered his body once again, and he raised his sword before tilting it downward.
"Then I will bring those traitorous Espada to justice for the sake of Aizen-sama, using my Resurrección!" Tousen said zealously, as he channeled the purple energy into his blade. Naruto and Ulquiorra's eyes widened at his words.
"Resurrección!? What the fuck!?" Naruto roared, in mixture of both surprise and anger. Tousen's masked face didn't give any indicators on whether or not that was true, but the reiatsu was similar to an Arrancar's sword release.
"I am above all the Espada! I will now put an end to this pointless rebellion so we may go on to Karakura Town uninhibited..." Tousen remarked, as his reiatsu peaked.
"Suzumushi Hyakushiki!" he shouted.
"... Grillar Grillo!" he finished.
A dark purple void of reiatsu engulfed Tousen, and even Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sheer density of the energy. The reiatsu was practically viscous, covering Tousen like some sort of sludge. But the sludge began to take shape and solidify into a form.
Wisps of the stuff thinned out until they became insect legs, with long and sharp digits jutting out from the ends. Despite being an insect, the new Tousen was hairy, with two antennae sticking out of his back, and short fly wings emerging just below them. Tousen lifted his face to regard Ulquiorra, a insectoid mask covering all but his mouth.
The most striking thing about the Resurrección were the round, bulbous eyes of the mask, which were currently closed. Carefully, Tousen opened them, showing a concave orange sclera, with an almost-shaped green pupil in the center.
Ulquiorra regarded it dispassionately. It was hideous, but as a Hollow he had seen things far uglier than an overgrown bug. However, it didn't take long for Tousen to speak, in a much higher unnatural voice.
"I can see..." he said, as he noticed all eyes were on him.
"I can see! I can see! I CAN SEE!" Tousen guffawed, as he lost all sense of himself.
"THIS IS THE WORLD! THIS IS LAS NOCHES! THIS IS AN ARRANCAR!" he shouted, turning his head towards Ulquiorra, before turning it around to where Gin was.
"AND THAT IS A SHINIGAMI! I CAN SEE!" he finally cut off his rambling to turn to where Ulquiorra was. The Espada was looking dispassionately at him, in spite of the overwhelming advantage Tousen had in his release.
"And I assume... you are Ulquiorra?" Tousen remarked. He flexed his claws, before getting into whatever battle stance he could perform when he was in that state. Ulquiorra continued to stare, almost like he was looking upon a pathetic creature.
Surprisingly, instead of attacking... Ulquiorra sheathed his Zanpakutou. He closed his eyes and walked over to the side of the building, as if his job were done after that.
"What are you do-" he asked, before he cut off by a powerful slash slicing right through the top of his head. Tousen gasped in pain and alarm, before he coughed up an unhealthy amount of blood, before he plummeted towards the ground.
Ulquiorra blinked, and noticed that Naruto had taken a break in his battle with Aizen in order to practically scalp the top portion of Tousen's Resurrected bug head. He smirked casually.
"You let your newfound sight go to your head, idiot! You couldn't even sense me coming from behind... just like... THIS!" he cackled with glee, as Aizen went in for an opportunistic strike while Naruto was occupied. It was blocked easily.
"You can finish him off if you want, Ulquiorra! I've got to go back to handling this fuckhead!" he shouted, as Ulquiorra sighed. He drew his sword again, and looked down at the fallen Tousen. He was barely conscious, and there were still a few remnants of his Hollow powers that he had used before. All in all, he looked resigned to whatever had happened.
Ulquiorra didn't even give him the chance to speak, and simply plunged his Zanpakutou into Tousen's brain, effectively ending the fight...
"Ahhhhh-ah... looks like they got Kaname..."
The splattering of blood and brains could be heard in the hallway as Tousen's head was slashed open by Ulquiorra's blade, but it was almost drowned out by the fighting of Naruto and Aizen in the exact center of the room.
Naruto grinned wildly as the serene look on Aizen's face never faded. The sound of death was pleasing to Naruto, but Aizen obviously wasn't even phased that one of his commanders had just been taken out.
"Looks like one of the commanders got taken out before we even reached the fighting. Ain't that going to be something to mess up your plans?" Naruto goaded.
"...Hardly." Aizen responded, pressing the attack back on Naruto. Naruto smirked, as he flipped into the air, stabbed his sword downwards while blocking the upward strike from Aizen.
"I figured you'd say that."
He swung his sword upward, getting into the momentum as he hovered in mid-air, before he launched a testing Bala straight towards Aizen. The Shinigami backhanded the orange ball away.
"Bala? Surely you can attack me with something a little stronger than that?" Aizen said, raising an eyebrow. Naruto responded by appearing in front of Aizen and slashing down on him. He brought his free hand up, and in a split-second, had launched a Bala. Aizen closed his eyes and casually tilted his head to the side, avoiding the Bala easily.
Naruto smirked. He adjusted the pressure on his Zanpakutou with enough force to push Aizen back. Meanwhile, the Bala had curved around just before it had hit the wall, pinning Aizen between a sword slash from ahead, and a Bala from behind that homed in on him.
"Bala Siguiendo? A decent trick on a lower-level opponent, but all too easy to figure out..." he said, taking one hand off his blade and aiming it at the incoming Bala.
"Hadou #33: Sokatsui..." he said, as blue fire erupted from his fingertips and intercepted the Bala on its way towards. However, while that was occurring, Naruto used both hands to push his blade onto Aizen's, getting closer to breaking through his defenses.
Aizen smirked and drew back using Shunpo. However, Naruto's Sonido was slightly superior, so he was able to close to the distance on them very quickly and deliver a minor slash to Aizen's shoulder.
"Too damn slow!" he said. For the first time that day, Aizen lost the smug smile in favor of a slight frown. No one had managed to wound him in quite some time now. And using simple tactics too; it was just that Naruto's basic skills were ludicrously strong, that he could afford to use basic tactics like that and still overwhelm his opponent.
Naruto wasn't quite done yet, though. He was pressuring Aizen the best he could, ramming his blade into Aizen's defenses, looking for a way he could follow up his successful attack.
He used three successive slashes, which Aizen managed to recover and block quite easily. Aizen flashed away with Shunpo, and Naruto halted his advances in mid-air.
He grinned and held his blade horizontally while charging up energy into his head. He placed his other hand in a similar position, though he pointed his fist to the right. When he was done, he had two charged up Ceros waiting to be released. However, he breathed in and out, and the energy faded. He looked down towards the ground, seeing Aizen stand there, like he didn't even want to fight.
"You're too cautious..." Naruto thought, as he swung his blade downward with all the force he could muster. The air pressure impacted the ground, slashing the tiles apart while heading for Aizen.
Aizen avoided the feint attack easily, jumping into the air backwards slightly. Naruto smiled; Aizen had taken the bait. Naruto rushed forward, his Sonido allowing him to breach the distance between the two.
Their blades clashed once again, but this time Naruto had angled his blade so that the tip was pointed almost vertically, towards the ceiling. Such an action would almost certainly leave his defense weakened, but Naruto seemed to have something up his sleeve.
Aizen raised an eyebrow; he certainly knew that Naruto was up to something. He then heard a low hissing noise coming from his opponent, and his eyes widened as an orange Cero went off without any sort of warning whatsoever from the hand that was clutching Naruto's Zanpakutou.
The Cero scuffed Aizen's clothes, but otherwise didn't harm him. He had pivoted his body while still remaining in his basic stance, so he didn't Shunpo away while the Cero went off.
"Naruto, do you understand why you'll never be able to defeat me?" Aizen asked in the midst of battle. Naruto snorted at his opponent warily, before his eyes darted to the top-left corner.
"Ah man, here he goes..." Naruto thought.
"If you put all your hatred into beating me as your one final goal. . . I. . . as. . . . .ga. . . . be. . . ." Aizen began, as Naruto tuned him out completely. From the little bits of the speech he heard, Aizen seemed to be talking about how his hatred was just a petty excuse, and he was scared of something greater than him.
". . .a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."
"..." "..."
"..."
"SHUT! THE FUCK! UP!" Naruto roared, pouring all his strength into his sword and pushing Aizen off of him. The former Captain slid back in mid-air, though he regained that smug smile of his.
"Do my words anger you, Naruto?"
Naruto smirked.
"No, you see, I wasn't paying attention to anything you were saying, so I didn't catch any of that. I was just thinking that your voice is just so annoying, and I already have to deal with looking at your ugly face all day. I don't need a voice to match it..." he taunted. Aizen wasn't phased.
"It makes sense that you were be angered. Those who are weaker don't understand the strength of one who is superior are very quick to fall to fear and anger when they are forced to react to them. It is a flaw of any living creature..." he mused, though Naruto wasn't paying attention again.
"CÁLLATE, PUTO!" he said, launching the other Cero that he had charged up earlier. Aizen sidestepped the thing, then flashed underneath Naruto's guard.
"Perhaps we should finish the weak attacks and move on to something bigger. . ." His hand flashed with purplish-black energy, which spiralled around his arm.
"Hadou #90: Kurohitsugi!" he said, as a black box of reiatsu surrounded Naruto. Without an incantation, it was at a mere third of its power, but Naruto was still trapped behind it.
Naruto growled for a second as he was encased behind the reiatsu, cutting off his opponent and light from entering the coffin. After that, he smirked, and charged up energy into his hand.
"Rayo Bala..." he said, as he charged up a Bala. He released the thin beam of orange light, which nailed the walls of the Kurohitsugi, and due to the superior reiatsu of the Rayo Bala, cut right through the Kidou.
Aizen heard the whirring noise of the Bala from underneath the Kurohitsugi, and he hopped out of the way as it was cut through by the laser Bala, which continued to draw a line across the floor and up the wall, nearly splitting it in half.
The structure of the Kidou collapsed into basic reiatsu, and Naruto emerged as a shadow out of the coffin, completely unharmed. He clutched his Zanpakutou tightly, pointing a finger at Aizen.
He launched another Rayo Bala straight towards Aizen, who obviously flashed out of the way of the direct attack. Naruto smirked wider, bringing his finger around as if he were drawing a line.
Aizen reappeared in mid-air, just before Naruto was done drawing his path of destruction up the walls. Aizen grunted as he saw the incoming Bala, flashing down to a safe place. It was exactly what Naruto wanted him to do.
"Too slow!" he shouted, as he flashed directly into Aizen's blind spot as he reappeared on the steps leading up to the portal to Karakura Town. Aizen had enough time to turn his head. His eyes widened substantially as he realized that Naruto's finger was pointed directly at him. In exactly a split-second, Naruto had fired another Rayo Bala from his finger.
The ray of light burned a hole straight in Aizen's shoulder before coming out of the other side. Naruto immediately withdrew his Rayo Bala to go on the offensive, not giving Aizen even the slightest chance to react.
Their blades met for the umpteenth time, but Naruto was going to press the offensive this time. Aizen just barely blocked his first strike, so Naruto could continue the attack.
While parrying Aizen's blow, Naruto's free hand shot clenched into a fist, and he punched the former Captain with all his might. Aizen brought his blade up to block it, but Naruto simultaneously went through for a quick jab with his cutlass.
Three consecutive strikes later, and Naruto had broken through Aizen's guard. While Aizen was disoriented by his heavy blows, Naruto rose his blade skyward, before he let loose with the strongest downward slash he could perform.
Aizen's blade was broken in half by the strike, and a fatal wound was delivered from his shoulder all the way to his hip. His eyes widened and shook, and he looked down at his body in disbelief.
"H-How..." he asked in shock, as he collapsed to his knees. His Zanpakutou clanged to the floor as his grip failed him, and his knees gave out on him as he collapsed, blood pouring from his open wound.
Aizen breathed heavily, blood pouring from his mouth as well. Naruto looked upon him dispassionately, a frown marred on his face as Aizen died right before his eyes.
Surprisingly, his grip tightened on his Zanpakutou.
"Who do you think you're playing?" he asked, as he turned over to where the portal was.
"Cut the damn illusion. You ain't dead yet..." Naruto said, pointing his blade at the apparent dead corpse of Aizen Sousuke. He watched it intently, even as it broke into several mirror shards, signifying that it was an illusion the whole time. He rolled his eyes, and casually put his blade behind his back, blocking an incoming strike.
"How intriguing... You managed to pick out that that was an illusion. Tell me, have you finally made a breakthrough on breaking my Shikai, Naruto?" Aizen asked, his voice coming from the real Aizen that was attacking Naruto from behind. Naruto growled.
"That's not it. You went down far too easy, fell for several simple tricks, and the manner in which you "died" was far too melodramatic. You were using Kyouka Suigetsu the entire time in our fight, though it seems. . ." he looked over to the center of the room.
"That was really Tousen who died..." he mused.
"You are correct. I in no way used Kyouka Suigetsu on Kaname. The one that Ulquiorra fought was real," Aizen explained, though Naruto wasn't convinced.
"Well, it looks like I'll have to find out for myself!" Naruto shouted, as he broke the contact with Aizen and slid back across the room. He reached into the collar of his Arrancar uniform, unbuttoning it completely and allowing his chest to be shown.
Scattered all over his chest were a series of round devices that seemed connected to both each other and the rest of his body. They were the grey color of metal, with a flat, yet round shape with a green center. The veins on his chest were engorged with blood, as an unknown result of the pieces. There were seven of them in total, but Naruto pulled back some of his blond spikes to reveal two more just above his forehead, for a total of nine pieces. They appeared to lie dormant for the time being, not serving any purpose that could be seen with the naked eye.
"Oh, hey... what are these?" Naruto asked, pointing to one of the devices on his chest. Aizen frowned at them, but Naruto covered his chest back up partially.
He touched one of the devices on his chest, pumping some of his reiryoku into it. The green core of the device lit up brightly, before the others began to follow suit.
His engorged veins glowed with what seemed to be a toxic green reiatsu, connecting the devices on his chest and head in a sort of green stream of reiatsu that ran underneath his skin.
"And, I'm all set," Naruto said.
"For what exactly?" Aizen asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm well aware of what you've been doing with Szayel Aporro behind the scenes. You've been looking for a way to bypass my Kyouka Suigetsu's illusions using that invention that Szayel Aporro made. You must know about the mechanics of my Kyouka Suigetsu by now, so I'll explain," Aizen started. Naruto's eyes widened; the jig was up.
"You know by now that Kyouka Suigetsu's effect is triggered by my sword release. To go further than that, once I release my Shikai, I am allowed to control the five senses of my target to create absolute hypnosis. But, what about the details to that?" Aizen asked.
"When my target looks about Kyouka Suigetsu, a bit of my reiatsu is released into their brain. This wavelength of reiatsu directly controls the five senses, with my Shikai the "trigger" to allow that to happen Without the imprinted reiatsu, my illusions would be nothing more than simple reiatsu. The imprint of reiatsu on the brain needs to be in synchronization with my Zanpakutou in order to produce an illusion."
"I'm impressed. Because my Espada have been consistently exposed to my Zanpakutou, this was a create deal of opportunity for Szayel Aporro to figure out the qualities of my Zanpakutou, unlike Soul Society. If my observations were correct, that device that you are connected to disrupts the wavelength of reiatsu that has remained in your brain ever since you first saw my Kyouka Suigetsu," Aizen explained.
"Because I have no feedback from your senses, and my reiatsu imprint cannot control you, I cannot create any illusions. However..." he smirked, as Naruto jumped backwards, already on guard.
"Shatter, Kyouka Suigetsu..." Aizen said. Naruto's eyes widened at the change in the reiatsu. The reiatsu that his system was suppressing had reverted to the feeling of beforehand.
He looked up, and Aizen was gone. He felt a sharp pain come from his backside, and he turned away to see a heavy gash wound spilling blood from beyond his shoulder. Aizen was standing right there.
"Shit!" he said, as he swung his blade at him. Aizen gasped at the blade slashed straight through his torso, but Aizen dissolved into more shattered glass. An illusion.
Fog materialized around Naruto, and he looked around for an escape. Clones of Aizen materialized out of the fog, and Naruto looked from side-to-side. The clones did nothing, but despite that it felt like he was being run through by the real Aizen.
"No one has ever said that it is impossible for me to remove the reiatsu imprint on your brain and place a completely new one there, one that your system cannot nullify," Aizen said.
Naruto gritted his teeth so hard that they almost cracked underneath the pressure. Aizen had seen through his plan, but he forced himself to remain calm. He still had a trick up his sleeve.
"I also happen to know about the other trick that those devices are made to perform. You were surprisingly thorough with this plan, Naruto, covering all your bases by having a back-up plan was far more than I expected from an Arrancar like you..." Aizen commented, as Naruto tinkered with one of the devices on his chest. They seemed to be changing color, and the intensity of the reiatsu underneath Naruto's skin increased.
"You can adjust the power of that device in order to respond to the output of reiatsu that I decide to release from my Zanpakutou in order to create illusions. If I had truly not known about your capacity for that, I would most likely be defeated here. However..." he said. Naruto grinned as he tinkered with one of the knobs on his chest, and felt the right reiatsu burst forth from them. Aizen appeared to him from the side, and Naruto threw a careless punch over to him. Incidentally, Aizen broke out into mirror parts.
"I have already prepared for that. In order to combat your device, I have broken free of my reliance on the ritual. I may now confuse the senses of anyone I please, regardless of whether or not they have seen the release of my Zanpakutou. I truly must thank you, Naruto. You have played a most important role in advancing my evolution."
It was an illusion.
"It truly is intriguing, Naruto. You spent so much of your time figuring out how to defeat my Shikai, but when you finally seemed to have achieved that goal, you were utterly defeated. Any flawed living creature would see the unfairness of such an event. But, perhaps this is just another limitation of a living creature. The fact that I was victorious means that a higher being has decided for us who shall be the victor, and who shall be the loser. But, soon I will break those limitations, and will no longer be subject to those higher beings," Aizen said, the voice seemingly coming from nowhere.
"Why isn't it working? Szayel and I tested this for years to make sure it would work. Aizen broke his reliance on the ritual? Is that even possible? The whole basis of his Shikai was on that? Does that mean that this system of reiatsu control is useless?"
Those questions exploded into Naruto's mind as he desperately tried to tune the system to work. Aizen's voice was coming from somewhere he couldn't pinpoint, and it even might be an illusion in itself.
Without even using Shunpo, Aizen appeared in front of Naruto. Naruto rose to his feet, almost forgetting the important device on his chest as he would be forced to fight Aizen without it.
Aizen stood there for a moment, his blade not even out. Instead, it was sheathed completely, and Aizen didn't even look like he was ready to fight. Naruto fell into a defensive stance.
He was slashed cleanly through the torso.
His eyes widened and shook as he looked down on the deep and serious sword wound that ran down from his should to just above his hip. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He turned his head around, seeing Aizen standing around fifteen feet behind him, his sword pointed horizontally and covered with his blood.
Aizen had used an illusion, and gotten through his guard immediately.
Aizen turned around, before the Primera Espada collapsed onto the ground, struggling to remain conscious. Gin's smirk widened on the sidelines, and he shook his head.
"Ahhhhhh-ah, he should've expected this sort of outcome. That's what happens when anyone tries to fight ya, Aizen-taichou..." he said cryptically, before Aizen turned and regarded him.
"It means nothing, we have enough Arrancars to fight the Soul Society with. Even without our strongest one, we are more than prepared for this battle. But..." he said, pointing to Ulquiorra.
"I'm afraid I can't forgive you, Ulquiorra. You have attacked and killed Kaname; this insubordination cannot go unpunished," Aizen said. Ulquiorra stared blankly at him, before putting his hands in his uniform.
Aizen turned to look at the portal; the Shinigami had apparently made their way to the battlefield, if what the blurry display of the Ganganta-esque portal was true. He turned back to Ulquiorra.
"Now, shall we-"
Aizen was cut off as a cutlass-like Zanpakutou stabbed through him from behind.
Okay, quick announcement. The little (1)'s that I display all throughout each Chapter for translations will not be used from this point out. Rather, I'm going to translate each term by just writing it out at the bottom, instead of just corresponding each translation to a number. It's just cleaner that way.
Translations and Other Features
Suzumushi: Cricket
Suzumushi Nishiki: Benehiko: Cricked Second Movement: Crimson Flying Locusts
Suzumushi Hyakushiki: Cricket Hundredth Ceremony
Grillar Grillo: Chirping Cricket?
Hadou #33: Sokatsui: Destructive Art #33: Blue Fire Crash Down
Hadou #90: Kurohitsugi: Destructive Art #90: Black Coffin
Rayo Bala: Beam Bullet
That's it,
Alban55
