second movement
Uryu Ishida stared at the object in disgust as his friends glanced at him with worry
"this is a poor joke Urahara-san"
"its no joke Ishida-san, this is a surefire method for a Quincy to cleanse souls" the man replied with a smile
"its a Zanpakuto!"
"yes exactly, custom made."
"I would rather implode my own soul over using this thing! Do you have any clue how many Quincy have died to these things?!"
"I have a better idea then you Ishida-san, but none of us can guess how many people living and dead they have saved, and I do hope you survive the implosion and get back to business because this is the best method I could find."
"Try looking for more then a few months Shinigami" the young Quincy shot back, his utter rage at the situation making him slip back into old habits
Urahara leveled his gaze at the livid Quincy "I have been searching for over a hundred years." He let out a sigh "I was only a third seat at the time of that final massacre, but as part of the Onmitsukido I was one of the first deployed to exterminate the Quincy two hundred years ago. I hated it, I still hate it, both the actions themselves and the stupidity that lead to it."
"My issue with the Shinigami isn't some bit of old history Urahara!"
"Shut up and listen boy!" Urahara barked back "you're making the same mistake your ancestors did. Granted, your grandfathers guards would have been there in time if Kurotsuchi-Taicho hadn't interfered, and what he did to the souls of your people was wrong even by my loose standards but you are making a fundamental mistake. Do you really think Kurotsuchi-san wouldn't have been caught if he directly interfered? Don't you think it was strange there was no investigation?"
"Shinigami are nothing if not mired down in bureaucracy"
"True but that was only part of it. Tell me Ishida-san, who would you trade for your grandfathers life?"
Uryu's shock showed clearly on his face before it morphed into anger once again "no ones! My sensei wasn't that sort of person, he would have been crushed by disappointment if I did something like that!"
"So you don't begrudge the Shinigami being so late to your sensei's fight against the Hollow that day? Strange, I always thought that was one of the biggest reasons you disliked the Seireitei and its forces?" Urahara didn't give uryu time to recover from the second bout of shock "the cleanest way to kill someone under Shinigami protection is to direct the guards to someone else. The forces of the seireitei are capable of dealing with Hollow attacks for the most part but the human population has exploded over the past rough three hundred years. While this has coincided with a huge growth in the number of souls with spiritual potential and we are still catching up. We give the average student six years to learn what they need to know before sending them into a division, and soon after that, into the field."
"That's nowhere near enough time, I'm considered a genius among quincy and I still know so little. There's a reason we developed so many techniques to compensate for old age, a quincy isn't considered to be both well trained and having enough combat experience until their mid thirties minimum. How the hell can you be sending people out with only six years of training, that's insane?!" Ishida interrupted. The idea was mind boggling, between kido, hado, hoho, zanjutsu, reiatsu and reishi techniques and learning to use their individual zanpakuto a Shinigami had so much to learn, and each aspect could take a century or more to truly master. There were living humans who dedicated their whole lives to a single endeavor only to master it late in life. His eyes widened.
"You're struggling to keep up with the population growth"
"Not entirely, one Shinigami can protect a large area so the high concentration of people in cities is helping but we are struggling to train enough Shinigami to cover the rest of our duties such as actively hunting Hollows, Seireitei patrol or even balancing operations. Unless something foul hits the fan how many Shinigami do you actually see in seireitei on average? Granted it holds farmland and other such things to remain self sustaining, the government and the nobility but far too few for a city this size because so many are on deployment or tucked away in the barracks training. With the number of Shinigami growing so fast our infrastructure can't keep up, we are struggling to train, supply and coordinate or monitor so many new people. The traditional division is around 250 men strong with the tenth being much larger, several of them have now swollen to around 500 people give or take a bit and the tenth has become a bloated monster of paperwork and logistics. That's the rough equivalent of an entire other division numberswise and most just aren't trained enough to take solo missions or survive if it falls apart never mind the numbers the adademy is trying to cope with."
"this is nice and all but how does this tie in with my grandfather?"
"Ishida-san, the squad sent to protect your sensei was diverted to protect people who couldn't protect themselves, our response times aren't the best but we aren't that slow. It was felt a fully trained Quincy should be able to survive without aid for a time, or even kill the hollow attacking him"
"He didn't try too, he lived and died by his ideals. He prolonged the fight hoping a Shinigami would show up to purify the creatures."
Urahhara let out a sigh "Kurotsuchi arranged a rookie squad for that mission, it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. It should have been onmitsukido but he made the argument a Quincy didn't need that level of protection, with our current situation it was agreed too. I suspect he loosed the Hollows that killed both your grandfather and distracted the protection detail..."
"the point stands, that man is uncaring enough of things outside his interest to let them kill innocent people, and he admitted to sending the hollows that killed him. He disguised the incident as just another case of being overworked, so no investigation and no punishment"
"about that last part..."
"don't try and tell me he's been punished Urahara-san, the mans still walking around free as a bird. Worse, he's still alive."
Urahara gave a cough "well we can't throw out a Taicho at this point in time but he is indeed being punished. Mayuri-san spent several decades in a cage so imprisonment wont work in the slightest and he regularly cuts himself open for experimentation but he values knowledge above all and derives great enjoyment from discovery. No, the sou-taicho basically stuck a leash up his backside. Almost every project in the labs are heavily monitored and anything interesting that he could take in a morally ambiguous direction is confiscated and sent to me, I then get to work on it and give my findings in front of him. Even this project for Quincy cleansing hasn't been any different. As requested I destroyed any sensitive notes and I've been keeping him as far out of it as I can while dropping hints to secret techniques and hidden knowledge while using his up to date data bases. Last I saw poor Mayuri-san was throwing a tantrum while having a mild mental breakdown. The only things he's had free reign with in a year and a half is the Arrancar studies."
Uryu sat and thought quietly for a little bit before his eyes lit up with unholy glee, a twisted smile spreading across his face "he's suffering in ways I could never have imagined" he cheered happily
"while your response is expected, disturbing but expected, may we move back to your new weapon now that your greatest hatred has been addressed?"
"you still couldn't put more effort into this? I'm more then happy to keep that bastard out of it but seriously, a zanpakuto? Did you even try?"
"yes, very hard, remember, the final fall of the Quincy was their unwillingness to change or listen to the Shinigami on a subject where our knowledge outstripped their own. Please listen Ishida-san I am trying to help. To go back to what I was saying, I took part in the Quincy extermination and its a regret I still feel. I've spent the past 200 years since that time on and off looking for a solution, I do have other things to do no matter how it may look, only to find out an answer was worked into the most basic Shinigami tool at its creation, by its creator."
Uryu lent forward in interest "the early Shinigami had an even worse relationship with the Quincy then the current ones do, how did that happen, and how does this work?"
"I know right, but he wouldn't explain. It comes down to a fundamental similarity between Shinigami and Quincy, no matter how it looks both channel their power through their souls. While a Shinigami's power wells up from within, a Quincy pulls it from without but it still filters through the soul, what I was missing was intent. Both are deeply affected by what you feel and what you plan to do, a shinigamis power, as you would have noticed is a rather wild thing. We use zanpakuto to give it a direction, a structure, raw kido or powered hakuda will take the form of the element the person is most in tune with, and run wild with only a basic direction and intent to guide it. We use chants because words carry power, to shape our spells and infuse intent into them, the same with abilities whether sword based or otherwise, its why you can only drop the incantation or name and keep full power when you've really got a grasp on the inner workings of something." kisuke stopped for a breath and a quick drink, it was a long complex thing to talk about "the quincy have the opposite problem, every aspect of their power is under their direct control, and there in lays the problem. It sounds corny as hell but a Shinigami's power is innately affected by the heart, by human nature, it ultimately sees any human soul it slays as human and deeply empathises with it and in all but the most extreme cases forgives the monster its killed thereby allowing the soul to be judged on its living actions and not the hollows actions. This empathy is present even when shinigami engage in battle with each other. A Quincies power comes from without and filters through the soul, specifically the controlled part of the mind."
Uryu interrupted him. "in other word, because we have such control over our power it never reaches out heart, our humanity, we would need to actively make the decision to both see our enemy as human, and forgive their crimes to avoid destroying a soul or unfairly punishing them to hell. That's a hard thing to do from the mind alone, many would say forgiveness has nothing to do with the mind"
"very good Ishida-san, and that's what the zanpakuto actually does, it merges heart and mind in an outside container then amplifies the power. The outer shape is of little importance beyond a tool for battle, what really shows who you are inside is the shikai and bankai. It gives Shinigami a greater way to manifest and control their powers, it gives structure to a wild thing, as the heart is already the main part of their power that function is obsolete, but it wasn't meant for them. For a Quincy it will link heart with mind allowing for a simple, reliable way to purify a soul, you will still gain the structure of shikai and bankai, its a basic part of the weapon but it shouldn't interfere with anything else, it doesn't with kido or other things of the like."
"why weren't the old Quincy told of this? It could have solved so many problems"
Urahara let out a deep sigh "we didn't know of it and the old Quincy would never have agreed, you know that better then any of us. They were dedicated to revenge on the monsters that killed there loved ones, that killed the defenseless, they had a deep contempt for the Shinigami and what they saw as weakness and ineptitude. Don't ever think the choice to commit genocide on a race that could have been our greatest ally in our deepest time of need was easy, it caused deep rifts in our political, social and military landscape. In the end it fell to the military to make the decision, we only formed a united front because above all else we must maintain the balance, the price if we fail is just too great. The wounds of that time still linger in those who were there and for what its worth I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what we had to do and that I only caught on to Myuri-san after the fact. Rest assured I am not the only one of that generation still alive, he has made more enemies then he thinks, I am not alone in my endeavor to torture him in the worst ways that fit"
Uryu Ishida sat in silence, for how long he didn't know, there was no tick tock of a clock to give any indication of passing time and no one interrupted his thoughts. Eventually his gaze dropped to the weapon on the table between them, a part of his mind was surprised to to note it was a silvery white bow with blue markings, the traditional quincy colors, in his rage at sensing what it was he hadn't even noticed its form. He still wasn't sure of this, the zanpakuto had been linked with the shinigami for over a thousand years, it had become the bane of his peoples existence in the different skirmishes and outright wars they had fought with each other. Even the Quincy emperor alluded to in Kurosaki Masaki's texts had fallen to a raging inferno in the form of a sword. A thump from the table drew his attention. It was a blade almost large enough to require two hands from a normal person, how he missed it before ishida had no clue. The thing was more of a European design then the typical Asian blades associated with the seireitei with a long straight blade, sharp on both edges. He met Yasatora Sado's gaze, the implication was clear, they had no clue how Sados power really worked or how a zanpakuto would effect it, he was a Fullbringer, and what was that? But he had still taken the thing up and let it begin to bond with his soul, a weapon designed with Shinigami and Quincy in mind, all so he could know with absolute certainty that he would cleanse his foes, so that he could stand beside his friends, Uryus own family. He glanced to Orihime who shook her head.
"all she needed to know was to cut away the right parts to purify a hollow. Her power already mixes heart and mind, and none of us are willing to mess too deeply with something that can play with reality the way a child plays with playdough. That and her soul manifests as six strange fairy creatures, its exceedingly rare to even have two spirits, there are currently only two people in all of seireitei with that condition, who knows what that says about the state of her soul. No way in hell I'm going in there." Urahara said with a lopsided smile
Both Uryu and Chad leveled a glare at the man as the young woman blushed with embarrassment. The shopkeeper raised his hands in defeat "I'm just telling it how it is don't kill me for it, she needs to now that alongside Ichigo-kun she has a stupid amount of power, they can both end up as the most powerful people in existence given time and effort and she needs to be careful with it."
Ishida let out a sigh before slowly reaching out and taking up the bow, he had no idea how he would use it alongside his usual techniques, he didn't like the feel of having it in his hands, but he would figure it out.
"three days for bankai huh? I'm going to beat it."
...
Ichigo's blade swung down at his zanpakuto spirit, he had been through so many different weapons by this point, bows, darts, guns, shuriken, javelins, spears, whips, boomerangs and more, any form of ranged weapon or something with reach imaginable had been tried. So many that if time didn't flow so much slower in his inner world it may well have been months, but at last he had found a weapon he was both comfortable with and Zangetsu agreed could work. It was an arrow in the form of a long broadsword with four prongs coming off the hilt. Zangetsu had felt a mixture of shock and horror when his wielder summoned up that blade, awe and respect had mixed with those emotions as he watched Ichigo progress to to the point he could gather and compress so much reishi into the blade it gained a silver metallic sheen, becoming a solid construct and not just energy in the form he required. The older man hurled himself to the side as a roaring bolt of energy obliterated everything where he used to be and reminded himself why he had agreed to the weapon in the first place, for all it looked like a large sword it was and would always be an arrow, a very large throwing blade. He closed swiftly with his wielder in a swoosh af hirenkyaku but proved unable to reach the younger man in time to strike before a new arrow was summoned. Ichigo lashed out with a wide sweeping blow designed to drive his opponent back, to keep them at bay. The new Quincies weapon style was changing, it no longer focused on crushing attacks that made use of the powerful blade he used to wield but now focused on keeping the the enemy away, on keeping distance till he could find an opening, a weakness to exploit with a searing bolt of thrown power. His speed had returned as they fought, Zangetsu had expected that, speed was an itegrel part of ichigos style regardless of form, but he had learnt the key differences between shunpo and hirenkyaku. shunpo was a swordsman's technique designed for extreme agility in close quarters, while it could be used over distances it was designed for high speed short range maneuvers with an agility its quincy counterpart simply couldn't match. hirenkyaku was designed with an archer in mind, it was in essence a moving platform, with practice and adequate sensory skill a quincy could aim and fire all while moving at speed.
Ichigo couldn't believe the the difference in his sensory abilities, he had never realized his own reiatsu had gotten in the way so much, he now understood why the stronger Shinigami suppressed their power by habit. Not only did it limit its impact on those around them it actually let them see in ways they couldn't normally, combined with his growing ability to sense and manipulate reiryoku and reishi it was opening up new worlds of possibilities. He could sense a weakness in Zangetsu's defenses and struck, the bolt tearing into the spirits arm as he dodged. Once again Zangetsu swept forward and Ichigo countered him with sweeping blows and large guarding motions. He could see more openings in Zangetsu's form, and didn't strike. It wasn't worth compromising his defense for, not when a quincy lacked the defense of a Shinigamis reiatsu, far better to use his new advantages to gain the upper hand. He could have used blut vene to increase his defense but he had developed a preference for keeping the bluts inactive till he needed one, it took time to actively switch from one to the other but only a moment to draw the reishi into his blood. It could be considered a risky style and Zangetsu had told him most Quincy simply used vene to keep themselves safe until they had a clear superiority over their enemy for the killing blow, Ichigo saw that as a waste, blut arterie could enhance his striking power just as much as its twin could improve his defense. One last sweep of his blade and a flicker of hirenkyaku and he had the distance to strike again, a scarlet network coursing through his skin as he activated blut arterie, and then he did something different, he called on a new technique he had developed. Basic reishi manipulation had been a nightmare to learn, finding his proper weapon had been hell, he still couldn't actively change the properties of reishi but his shiba heritage shone through in shaping his power within and without. As a Shinigami it had been barriers, seals and kaido, as a Quincy he was starting to feel drunk on the possibilities. He wove threads of reishi around Zangetsu's body, it was ransotengai used in a new way and zangetsu hated it, he fucking hated it when Ichigo did this. The older man screamed in pain as the arrow slammed into him, the pattern of blue across his skin struggling to hold back the power washing over his body. Eventually the power died down leaving Zangetsu strung up as he sagged against his bonds.
"that is unfair in the extreme ichigo"
"hey whatever works works"
"I believe we are out of time, I have kept you here as long as I can. Remember, though your blut is spectacular it is no bankai, it must do one or the other and it does not have a powerful added effect. You are mighty in your own right as a quincy but you will need to find other ways to match the heights of your shinigami power. Remember not to hesitate ichigo, you are still a shinigami and I am still you zanpakuto regardless of form. I will take care of cleansing any souls you slay"
giving a firm nod Ichigo departed his inner world
...
Ichigo glanced around as he walked back into camp, the place was abuzz with activity and the Shinigami kept shooting him looks of relief, how long had he been gone?
"about time you got back Kurosaki, its been over a week since you left" Toshiro commented as he appeared before his student/superior.
Ichigo blinked in surprise "that's a bit longer then I intended, sorry. On the good side I've got a firm grasp on my Quincy powers now."
"good go get ready for battle the enemy will be here soon"
"what!? But I need to plan and organize our battle strategy"
"aren't you lucky to have me as your aid out here, I've already dealt with it" Toshiro answered with a smirk
"I thought you were my teacher?"
"teacher, aide same thing with you. The best way to teach you anything is to let you run wild and keep the mess contained"
"gee thanks, so what's the plan?" ichigo asked as the pair began to move toward the front lines.
"I've organized our people into five separate units, a center unit, two mobile units to fight on our flanks, one for a move of our own made up of our top shunpo users if the opportunity arises and a unit kept back to act as reinforcement. Your biggest mistake last time was expecting the enemy to just charge you head on, you left nothing to guard our sides or to make a move if an opportunity shows up, you should also try to always keep something back so you have a fresh unit to respond to the changing situation, but I'm sure Yamamoto-Soutaicho went over this with you, I've also sent Onmitsukido scouts out throughout the area.
Ichigo sighed "he sortta did but my temper was going crazy at the time so...glad You're here to watch by back toshiro"
"understandable, not really acceptable for a taicho but very understandable. Sooner or later we all lose people, the first time is the hardest, the part that defines who you are is what you do next."
Ichigo shuddered, that had been a long sleepless few days. His emotions had gone crazy after his little meeting by a pile of corpses. It had helped that the man had been so adamant he was reminded his soldiers were volunteers, it had helped more then he could say, but that hadn't really eased the night of writing letters home or the constant silent arguments of what ifs and could haves. The old man had taken his mix of rage/grief/failure in stride and that had hurt in its own way. He had failed to keep people alive, to protect the people under his charge and it had hurt in ways he was still trying to understand, it had hurt that the old man seemed to have even more faith in him then before
"you are human Ichigo, and humans make mistakes living or dead. The fact you care about the people under you is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign you are not blinded by your mission. Pick yourself up and learn from what happened, you disgrace the ideals they died for if you do not. Remember, there will come a time when you need to sacrifice lives for the greater good but you should never to it quickly or lightly and it should never be your first response." Yamamoto had reflected quietly that he and Kurosaki were very similar in their youths in there own ways. One was hell bent on protecting others regardless of the cost to himself but couldn't see the big picture and how others played into it or what they could do to it. He had been so willing to throw away the lives of his people for the sake of some great goal that in the end he had destroyed that goal. Both were flawed people that held to their beliefs of how the world could be better regardless of struggle or strife, that could grow into something great if given the right guidance. By the afterlife he hoped he was guiding the boy right, to not repeat his mistakes in his own way.
The pair arrived in time to watch the last units take position on the crest of a hill, the reserves hidden behind it.
"well, your on Taicho. I'll be here if you need firepower but you're in command"
Ichigo took a few steps forward. He could feel it in his gut, he wasn't ready for this, one battle did not a general make, he could see the difference in skill between Toshiro and himself already. Ichigo's first plan had been, in essence, to line up and blast the enemy as they approached so there was fewer of them as they got closer. In a choke point it wasn't so bad an idea but that hadn't been such a situation, and he had saved nothing to respond to a changing battlefield, when that unit with zanpakuto appeared the best he could have done was shift already engaged units, if the rukon army hadn't broken he would have lost more people then he did. He hadn't planned a counter attack of his own or saved anything for it, he hadn't had any eyes to know of such an opportunity if it did arise. Yamamoto had been right, he was an amateur who had used an amateurs strategy. Toshiro had laid out the pieces for him this time to see it, he would learn from this.
For the second time in his life Ichigo heard the stomping shuffle of a large disorganized group moving in the distance. He watched as an onmitsukido member sped towards him, clearing his own army in one clear leap to land before him.
"what's going on out there?" he asked the new arrival
"the enemy is mostly a loose mob but they have a few disciplined units, one of these is placed behind the main body, if anyone tries to retreat or run they will be killed, I've seen it happen a few times over the past days watching them. They also have three units wielding what appears to be some form of crude firearm."
"guns!? When the hell did that happen?" ichigo squawker
Toshiro flinched "we got word of them a few days back, your not going to like that report, just remember Ishida-san and Kuchiki-Taicho have it handled. I didn't think they would have reached the north already. The northern rukon, for all that its fighting power matches its brutality is the least economically developed. Even in the outer districts where they are desperate for any combat advantage we don't believe they have the capability to produce much more then that, cetanly not in any large number. Remember, you are leading an army of Shinigami, guns don't mean much to us even when made from reishi. Shinigami don't play fair with physics, or anything for that matter. Between our reiatsu, reishi manipulation and being souls we can basically give any law of existence the finger if we feel like it, granted some of the more important ones take more power but the point stands."
Ichigo's gut began to twist at what was most likely in that report but he pushed it away, now was not the time, but his friends comments did slam home the type of creatures he and the people around him were. He had see them slammed through walls, been through a few himself, seen them get up from things that should kill a super human. Heck, he had had his organs crushed and not only survived but been up and running a few days later, Hyori had been cut in half, and while it took all their medical knowledge and power to save her she still lived. That was just broken, no wonders everyone who fought the Seireitei had such world shattering overpowered abilities, they would be bloody stupid to even try otherwise.
He took a deep beath and let it out, reminding himself once again that this wasn't the time for such thoughts, then started to issue orders "have the front rank of the center unit take a kneeling position, I want both them and the second rank to hit the enemy with explosive kido as they approach. They are to fall back into the main body for a short rest once the foe starts to get too close, when will be up to the officers in charge of those groups I haven't got a clue on the right timing. With so many against so few the weight of numbers has a chance to break our line so be prepared for a melee. The flank units are to spread out loosely to catch any move the rukon may make out there but keep in communication as a group so they can close on anything found and support each other, they will also be our eyes and ears for this. I want the onmitsukido to form into a force behind the enemy, their job is to kill that unit maintaining discipline, the sooner we break them the less things can go wrong. Once that's done move on to assassination of anyone who looks to be taking command" he looked to the scout turned messenger "will you be able to handle that?"
the agent shuffled a bit "that's more Executive Militia stuff, but we are trained Shinigami so we should be able to pull it off. We've all had to kill our fair share of Hollows before, something always goes belly up eventually"
Ichigo blinked in surprise "sorry I don't know much about the Onmitsukido or the Kido Corps yet, haven't covered them so far"
"yeah makes sense sir, best to know what you're doing with your own group before looking at other branches. Most of us here are Watcher Corp, the Onmitsukido fourth branch. We train for reconnaissance missions and to avoid combat as much as possible, stealth and sensory techniques are our specialty but like I said we should be able to do it. I will relay your orders now Taicho" was the answer before the agent shot off in a blur that was impressive for anyone not a taicho.
In short order his people began to shift about, taking the new positions he had ordered. He watched as the Onmitsukido members disappeared into the undergrowth around the clearing they had set up in a few weeks ago before he went AWOL to work on a new power. By god that was creepy, one minute he had a good idea where they were and the next they were gone to all but his reishi web. Now came the hard part of any operation, whether it be a ragtag group attacking hueco mundo or a full blown military operation, the waiting. As time stretched out he began to pace and grumble, began to second guess himself.
"patience Kurosaki, you've done all you can and a nervous leader can spread that to his troops. I'm not saying you shouldn't be nervous but try to hide it a bit" Toshiro tried to settle him. Before he had the chance to respond the first waves erupted from the treeline.
As per his plan they were met with a volley of explosive kido and the air began to fill with the smells of smoke and blood and the screams of the wounded and dying. ichigo swallowed back bile, it was proving harder to get used to fighting and killing normal human souls over the monstrous hollows he was used to hunting. There was another thumping bang as the second volley hit, then a third, then a fourth. ichigo look a better look around, they had really worked on that clearing while he was away, it now resembled a long rectangle, a shooting range. A stray thought almost had him contemplating the idea of a shinigami logging industry. He watched as the first two lines fell back into the group, and then the two forces met and it all became a mess of bladework. The superior power, training and experience of the Shinigami showed almost immediately as he watched bodies begin to pile up before the center unit. Then the second wave hit and the sheer number of bodies pressing forward had the shinigami lines bowing inward.
Ichigo reached out a hand and channeled what little reiryoku he had left in him. Markings of reishi formed on his outstretched limb and a glowing blue square appeared before his hand "bakado 77 tenteikura" once the connections to his senior officers had been made ichigo gave new orders "send forward the reserve unit, if we can stop the line from breaking it should make it easier to keep them in place for what comes next. onmitsukido are to engage once they feel enough men have moved away from the discipline unit. All units are to remember the guns, they haven't been seen yet" he felt a sensation from the quincy web he had established a week ago "flank units be aware, you have something headed your way, both sides. It was asachi last time so be careful where you can. The attack unit is to remain back till the guns show, I will have new orders then so be ready"
once again the Shinigami moved into action. He could feel the side units tense as they stretched out their senses to find the threat their commander had identified. Ichigo watched on as more and more bodies streamed into the mess before his lines, they were pushed back when the reserves counter charged into the forming breach and the lines stabilized once again. Some tried to run as the second wave of black robed warriors arrived only to be chased down and butchered by the loyalists to whatever warlord this was that remained behind. Loud cracking sounds reached his ears from both sides soon followed by reports from the unit leaders.
"guns have been found on the right sir. No injuries so far, the trees are cutting their lines of fire. Whoevers in charge of this lot had the right idea but didn't think about the weapons being used
"enemy firearms on the left flank. We are using the trees to close the distance with them, they have been unable to form a firing line. Unless you sense anything else out here Taicho we wont need that second unit."
Ichigo complied with the unspoken request and shifted his focus to his Quincy web, shifting it from a loose thing spread out over a wide area to a concentrated construct in the area around the fighting."
"I'm not getting anything, you should be clear" he answered as another message sounded in his head
"Onmitsukido beginning our attack now taicho"
they faded into existence with the same suddenness they had first disappeared with, their arrival swiftly followed by flashing blades and precision kido to distract and disrupt and then they were gone again, leaving a pile of dissolving corpses in their wake. They swiftly dispersed to give their enemy a clear avenue of retreat
"damn their good at that" Ichigo muttered quietly
The results were quickly displayed as the conscripted masses began to turn and run. ichigo watched with some satisfaction as his front lines stabilized, he could sense the other units finishing up in the woodlands to his left and right, and then it went wrong. The final unit of firearms burt from the woods into the field and swiftly formed a firing line, then began to fire into the retreating people. The mass stopped, milling around in cofusion and terror, if they went forwards the would die on the blades of reapers, if they stayed or ran they would be shot. Ichigo saw red, there was no need for this in his mind, the battle was over. He ignored Toshiro's call to stop as he flickered away in a sweep of hirenkyaku and appearing above the battlefield. The air around him shone like a miniature sun as reishi poured into him and he threw zangetsu down at the last, murderous enemy unit. ichigo called on his shiba heritage as the blade flew down, shattering zangetsus form into a million rays of light that slammed into the earth with terrible force, the gunmen disintegrating under the rain of power in a move he had copied from Uryu. ichigos glare swept the area beneath him as people started running again, others were on their hands and knees begging for life and Toshiro was giving him a look that could freeze alcohol. In another sweep he was back where he started.
"I fucked up didn't I?"
"very much so Kurosaki"
...
After dismissing the Shinigami forces from the battlefield the duo had headed back to Ichigo's command tent, where the Taicho of the tenth had launched into a furious tirade.
"did you even think before you acted? No don't answer that we both know you didn't. Do you have any clue what could have happened if that wasn't the end of it? What if the enemy had someone capable of tying you up for a time? Our people would have been caught out with no one in over all command, it would have been chaos. Your army would have been butchered if they had more then one such warrior."
"then what was I supposed to do Toshiro!" ichigo roared back "they were killing people needlessly, the battle was lost, it served no purpose! Was I just supposed to watch?!"
"you had a reserve unit skilled in shunpo, the Onmitsukido was still in the area, you had me!" the youthful reaper shouted back before taking a series of deep breaths and visibly calming himself "we need to settle down, shouting wont help either of us, and I will explain."
ichigo continued to glare for a moment before working to sooth his raging temper "so what did I do wrong?"
"you threw yourself into the battle far too readily" Ichigo went to respond "silence! You don't understand your position. A Taicho is not only the leader of their division, they are also its staff officer, its strategist, its tactician and yes there is a difference between them, as well as its greatest combatant and kidoist. As the Taicho of this army you are its single greatest resource in just about every field."
"but I'm a pretty poor strategist, tactician, whatever the difference is."
Toshiro sighed "that wont be forever. Shinigami don't age like normal souls, we don't even know if we have an age limit, in all our history no shinigami has died peacefully. Things like age and non fatal injury only slows us down and makes us uncomfortable, even what's fatal is debatable. With your level of power you will last an age, don't be so quick to commit your greatest weapon." he was quiet for a moment "and it did serve a purpose, if enough souls leave the soul society it will disrupt the balance forcing us to halt any operation out here. Hollows have a tendency to swarm when the balance destabilize compounding the problem in its own way even if it provides plenty of souls to purify to help fix it. This mustn't become a war of attrition, if it does we will have already lost. This has to be done with as few Shinigami as possible and with as little killing as possible, I thought you knew"
"well then shit what now, what about the two armies we wiped out? More if you include the three other forces."
Toshiro scrapped a hand through his hair " we had no choice with that, they would have fought anyway and you did the right thing trying to cut down on deaths in this battle. I think we have shown masses of conscripts wont stop us so we can hopefully expect smaller, more organized and loyal enemies from now on but its no guarantee. They may keep throwing waves at us with the goal of upsetting the balance, or even just mass slaughter of noncombatants, its happened before."
Ichigos gut flipped and twisted "you can't be serious, please tell me you aren't serious" he begged
"I am, sorry. This was never going to be easy, and remember, its not just the people out here who are against you, its interest groups in Sereitei as well. We found a deliberate cut to our communications between our forces in the other areas. As I said Kuchiki-Taicho and Ishida-san are already on it and last I heard Yasatora-san and Inoue-san have been cleared to fight, but we are fairly sure its where the firearms are coming from. You're really going to hate that report"
Ichigo's gut flipfloped again. He was so happy to hear his friends were finally able to help, it had been months, but every part of him screamed to not expose Orihime to this sort of thing. Chad had his back and he was so grateful, but was this asking too much? Then it hit him, he and Uryu were, in their own ways, raised as soldiers and generals, his father had left him to deal with most issues by himself, even ones a parent had every duty stepping into. The daily fights, the lectures on responsibility even the boardgames the family played were of a strict strategic or economic nature. Emotions raged through him at this revelation, was he angry, hateful, sad, betrayed or what? He didn't know. Then it crystallized into a form of understanding, was he right? He didn't know, he would ask later, but his father had known on some level this is where his life would lead, had suspected it even before his wife died. Even that was still not fully answered anymore, Kurosaki Masaki had been a Quincy, a damn powerful one if what Ichigo had seen in her writings was anything to go by, so how did a bit of trash like grand fisher get the drop on her? He could make the argument that his own actions were the cause, a Quincy was a ranged combatant and she had lost that advantage to save him, but that still didn't add up right. His mother had, had the most powerful blut systems of her generation. And hadn't that be a surprise to both him and Uryu, an entire order of Quincy and not just the single family they had both thought it to be, an entire generation with a presence, if tiny, all over the world, a generation wiped out within a month. The both of them had first thought to blame the Shinigami, a second genocide, but the Shinigami baring kurotsuchi had done all they could to discover why they had died, the few left had been rounded up by Kurotsuchi. They had found nothing, Ichigo knew that well, he had spent days digging through the records alongside his friend. The closest he had come to a lead was his father, who when asked had kicked him in the face and told him to focus on what he was already doing before running off and screaming that his son had an unwholesome fascination with murder. It had been a bizarre incident at the time and he had simply passed it off as the old goat trying to make up for lost time but that didn't add up anymore either. He was happy, his father had done the best by him he could having already guessed what was to come. Even know he kept things back so his son wasn't crushed by the combined responsibility of his new position and the weight of the future before he was ready for it. It made Ichigo feel warm and fuzzy in a way he hasn't ever associated with...he Was cold, very cold. Why was it even thinking of the old goat got him in situations that pissed him off.
"back with us Kurosaki?"
"fuck you Toshiro"
...
The lord of the Ottori looked across the his table at the two young women before him
"you do realize you both abandoned your posts and are actively working to betray a superior officer and a friend, correct?"
rukia kuchiki and momo hinamori shuffled in shame
"just making sure you knew"
...
Byakuya's gaze swept the south courtyard as his clansmen assembled, an image mirrored at each gate but this was the largest. The people of Kuchiki were drawn from all manner of positions. Most were not in fact warriors, he was gathering book keepers, negotiators, architects, teachers and more. Everything he would need to begin refounding an army as well as the things needed to persuade people to join, to provide a better standard of living. Kurosaki Ichigo's goals were, in his eyes, admirable in the extreme but he had little understanding of what life in Rukongai was actually like. He did, his dear Hisana had taught him well. He glanced to the side as his expected visitor arrived.
"I didn't expect you of all people to go so far Kuchiki-Taichio" the leader of the second questioned as she stopped beside him
"we all have our own lives Soifon-Taicho though I would have expected you to understand if you had done your job correctly" Byakuya replied with frost in his voice.
"and what is that supposed to mean Kuchiki-Taicho?" the Onmitsukido commander replied with a glare.
"it is so easy for us all to forget just how young some of the current generation of Taicho are, Kurosaki, Hitsugaiya...yourself. I do not blame you for this but you must realize this catastrophe came from a communications severance you failed to detect Onmitsukido commander. I also understand you seem to have a dislike of Kurosaki Ichigo and have withheld your full support even after a request from Shihouin Yoruichi, why is this?
"you of all people are asking me this? The same man known across seireitei for his dislike of Kurosaki's attitude?"
"there is a difference. I dislike his lack of manners towards stations I have worked hard to earn and uphold, his disregard for our laws and traditions. I have great admiration of his willingness to do what ever he needs to to aid someone and provide a moral justice regardless of the consequences to himself, I would even go so far as to say I rather like the man. Is it that he was trained by Yoruichi-dono and continues to have her assistance while you struggle still to lead both the second division and the Onmitsukido? I do not know the reason and I do not need too, but as a student of Shihouin Yoruichi I am demanding your full cooperation. We three need not be as close as the likes of Ukitake Jushiro, Kyoraku Shunsui and Sasakibi Chojiro but be will work as one for the good of all soul society. To do less would be to shame our teacher"
Byakuya didn't give her time to process his request or his revelation as he had his own duties to fulfill. Having joined this operation he was now under the command of Kurosaki Ichigo, Byakuya took it as a learning experience, and his orders were clear. He was to destroy the enemy as effectively and thoughly as he could and he would do just that, if not necessarily with force as the hurt, hateful missives words had implied. Kurosaki would thank him later for understanding what he would truly want, and Byakuya would have to thank the boy for showing him just how many different ways one could look at a situation and choose to act. Byakuya had to admit it though, he was glad the Quincy had other business to attend too.
...
Uryu made his way toward the meeting point, passing through the outer parts of some city in middle Rukongai. It was exactly the kind of place one lived if they didn't want to interact with others more then necessary, or to avoid the gaze of the Shinigami. His senses were on full alert, he and Kurosaki had, had more then on brush with assassins and tailings, he had worked too hard and put too much on the line for this to go wrong. A woman's voice brought his attention front and center
"my my uryu-kun how you have grow, but you are as tense as your father"
...
The man looked around the large bar room he and his companions occupied "looks like things are finally moving".
A/N I wanted this out in may but it kept growing. ive proofed this as best I can by myself so heres hoping its not too bad. this chapter is one ive been building towards for a long long time so I hope its good. many of the ideas developed or were recommended long ago when I bounced some ideas off Accurius so credit to them for helping me sort my thoughts out to even reach this point. now I have to figure out shikai and maybe bankai for chad and uryu so any ideas would be nice as long as you don't mind the real possibility of it being warped beyond recognition. I will give credit for anything I use, even if it takes years