Okay, this is a stupidly long chapter and I'm still debating whether or not I should try to shorten it somehow. But for now, you guys get the long version.

Have fun!


When Soujun had first sensed an unfamiliar reiatsu near his subordinates he had been wary. While he had been able to tell it had not belonged to a Hollow, it had been too strong for an ordinary Rukongai citizen. Not to mention that the closest villages were almost a full day of traveling from there, assuming you travelled at a slow shunpo. Ever since the sudden entrance of a group of mad individuals into the Rukongai he had not been inclined to think kindly of such an oddity.

He was not hesitant to admit that what he had found had not been what he had expected.

Shinrin was unbelievable. Soujun had never found someone with so much potential in the Rukongai who wasn't also an insane maniac. Soujun was convinced the young man even had his Zanpakutou already! When Shinrin had insisted on returning to the place they had found him Soujun had not expected him to fish what looked like a walking stick out of the bushes. And then he had spotted a shape beneath the cloth at the top that was suspiciously similar to a tsuba. And noticed the odd rope wrappings at various points along the stick's length, as if it consisted of two halves held together instead of one solid piece of wood. Soujun had the sneaking suspicion that he had embarrassed himself there, going slack-jawed in surprise.

It was almost unheard of, but Soujun was aware that it was possible for a soul to manifest his Zanpakutou without the aid of an asauchi. It required enormous strength and tremendous reiryoku reserves, but it was possible. After all, that was how the Captain-commander and the original Captains had gained their Zanpakutou, long before the first asauchi had been created. It was just that only about one among a hundred souls possessed the potential, and most of those would require a lot of time to achieve a natural manifestation. Using asauchi was simply the easier way. Yet here was Shinrin, who had gained his Zanpakutou so swiftly and probably was not even aware how amazing his accomplishment was.

It was just too amusing, in a ridiculous, mildly exasperating way. Who had ever heard of someone hiding a piece of their own soul like that? He was convinced Shinrin wasn't aware of the significance of his blade.

Especially because during the last stop at a village a few hours ago, Soujun dared bet he had seen Shinrin swipe some knifes. Usually, those with Zanpakutou didn't bother with other weapons.

Soujun had kept quiet though. He would speak with Shinrin about it soon enough, but if there was one thing Ukitake-taichou had taught him about those of the most distant districts, it was that any uninvited breach of their privacy would be received very badly, if not outright violently. The mere fact that Shinrin had made a lot of effort to hide his weapons was sign enough that he did not want people to pay attention to it.

Though Soujun suspected that no matter how gently or privately he brought up the issue Shinrin still wouldn't be happy with him. Whether Shinrin would continue to display his practiced calm or would unleash the temper Soujun had glimpsed when Taro had insulted Shinrin's skills during his life was anyone's guess.

Soujun didn't mind. While Shinrin moved with a speed and grace he could only feel deep appreciation for, he was well aware that nowadays, few Humans bothered to learn the sword, let alone master it. And if he used his shunpo, the young man would not be able to keep up no matter how skilled he was. Soujun had given Shinrin a quick rundown of the theory behind shunpo, but it would take Shinrin some time to master it even if he turned out to be a genius at the art. Whatever Shinrin remembered, Soujun was confident he could handle the young man should he turn out as unstable as so many of the other curiously talented souls that had turned up over the last decade.

Not to mention that Shinrin was a joy to observe, keeping up with their slow shunpo without using any reiryoku. For an average Rukongai citizen to keep up it would have required an all-out sprint, and they would have start lagging behind before five minutes had passed. But this was their third day traveling with the young man, and Shinrin still wasn't showing any signs of slowing down, even after many hours of running. The young man had to have immense stamina to maintain such a remarkable speed on muscle alone. Shinrin didn't even use his arms to help himself accelerate, instead stretching them out behind him to keep them out of the way and aid his balance, his disguised sword held in one hand. Soujun would be very surprised if Shinrin wasn't ready to draw at the barest hint of danger.

And the young man seemed to think nothing of it. Really, what kind of military training had he received, to be so used to a pace like this?

Though Soujun had to wonder what Shinrin was doing with his reiatsu. It was flickering like a candle flame in a draught, and had done so for the entire time Soujun had known him. He would have to ask about it sometime soon.

Soujun was eager to see what kind of Shinigami the young man would make. Shinrin's potential was astounding. He would not be surprised if one day he would call the youth an equal, if not a superior. Shinrin had an air about him that made Soujun suspect Shinrin's memories of his military training were far more extensive than he had implicated, which was another anomaly for the young man's record.

The minor injuries on Shinrin's hands were similarly intriguing. They had already been there when they had met the young man, and they looked like kidou burns. But there was no way Shinrin could know kidou. Not only did the outer districts lack the means for any soul to learn kidou, the young man had said he hadn't been in Soul Society long. Soujun didn't think Shinrin had lied, so there was no plausible way the injuries were caused by kidou. Not to mention that the injuries were too mild to be caused by a complete beginner having his first spell backfire.

Shinrin was a mystery. One that Soujun looked forward to unravelling.

He did not doubt that his comrades in Seireitei would feel the same should Shinrin be brought to their attention. For a moment Soujun contemplated keeping things quiet to spare Shinrin the attention of most of the upper echelons of the Gotei 13. But no, he knew his comrades. Shihouin-taichou, Ukitake-taichou, Kyouraku-taichou, and his father would notice his interest soon enough, and would only be more curious about the soon-to-be Academy student. Better to tell them right away and warn them not to be too obvious with their curiosity. Given how wary the young man was, Soujun had the feeling Shinrin would not appreciate it.

The Kuchiki was pulled out of his musings as something crashed in the distance, followed by wild laughter. Soujun frowned darkly, recognizing the savage joy and the wildness of the reiatsu that for a single moment blazed like a beacon. Good grief, he had thought the last of those mad monsters had finally been dealt with last year! He had hoped that the rumours of one of them slipping away had been false.

He sighed soundlessly and readied himself for a difficult battle. It seemed father had made the right call to send him along with this expedition.

"Kuchiki-fukutaichou?" Shinrin inquired warily, obviously having heard the laughter too.

Ah. The famed Rukongai self-preservation instincts. The young man did not show it, but Soujun was willing to bet that Shinrin would bolt without hesitation or regret if the situation became too dangerous.

Which, the Lieutenant forced himself to admit, might be a sensible idea. Chances were that this battle would demand his full concentration. He couldn't let himself be distracted with the constant protection of his companions.

Decision made, he called his team to a halt. "Stay here," he ordered everyone. "We have an unusual foe up ahead. This will be dangerous, so I will handle this."

An agonized scream echoed from the same direction of the laughter. Soujun felt a wave of worry. "And I am afraid the rest of our team is already engaging the assailant."

He was not looking forward to this. He would have to kill whoever had harmed his men, and he had never enjoyed doing that, no matter how necessary it was.

Just as he turned away he caught glimpse of Shinrin's expression. It was subtle, but why did he appear irritated, of all things?

"This one will likely be a very skilled opponent," he repeated, partly for the young man's sake. "At least Lieutenant level, so stay out of the battle. Do not interfere."

"Oh?" a feminine voice purred above him. "Will you face me then? Alone? How kind of you, Fukutaichou."

Soujun's eyes snapped up, his hands drawing and raising his Zanpakutou in a guard before he even realized it. He had rarely been so glad to have his reflexes as he was now. Because this was definitely one of the mad geniuses that had terrorized the Rukongai for the last couple of years.

High on a bough above them stood a short, slender woman clad in a dark-green, bloodstained hakama and kosode. Her hair was red as the stains on her clothes and styled in such a way it made her look like a wild fox-youkai in human form. She had a katana in her hand and was wearing a feral grin that bared very distinctive triangular teeth.

By the Soul King, she is one of that ferocious group that was the worst of them all.

Soujun's worry increased. How had she snuck up on them? One who had never attended the Academy should not be able to suppress her reiatsu so well. These people got more dangerous with every passing year. And this one had been running out of control for at least five.

This will be difficult.

"My, look at that," the woman said, assessing eyes gliding over their group. "Here I am, checking on some rumours, and suddenly I have so many prey to play with."

"What kind of rumours?" Soujun inquired, not allowing his blade to lower even a fraction. Some of this woman's kind had been very fast.

The woman smiled sweetly at the group. "Hmm, about a young, black-haired man who offers his services to slay the masked beasts, and who asks curious questions. Supposedly a new arrival too. So I just had to come and check it out, ne? Who knew how much fun he might be? And see how lucky I am," she gloated, as if facing off against a squad of Shinigami headed by a Lieutenant was a treat instead of a lethal pastime. Behind him he heard his squad bristle in offense. "I find a couple of Shinigami! And a strong one willing to face me as well! How wonderful."

She smirked, sharp and fox-like, and added teasingly, "Truly, I do so love your butterflies. Flying gossip, all up for grabs. Without it I would not have found you so quickly."

Soujun carefully didn't react to her jab against their communication methods, though it was very worrying that she had apparently been able to get her hands on the jigokuchou he had sent to his father to inform him about their delay. His gaze darted towards Shinrin. Had it been Shinrin who had asked questions that had drawn this woman's attention? And what did she mean, offering his services to slay the masked beasts? Had Shinrin been killing Hollows?

There was something distinctly odd going on.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to dwell on it, because the woman's grin had widened disturbingly. "It's you now isn't it?" she asked Shinrin, who didn't react beyond a slight tilting of his head, hand already on the hilt of his concealed sword. Shinrin always kept his eyes narrowed into thin slits, but Soujun dared bet that the young man was assessing the woman very carefully.

She laughed in delight. "Oh, definitely you. Any of the real Rukongai cattle would be pissing their pants by now, and you're no Shinigami either." She tapped her cheek. "You're a shinobi too, aren't you? Why are you hanging out with Shinigami instead of your own kind? Too scared to be on your lonesome?" A fanged grin followed with a good dose of cruel humour. "Know what? If your performance thrills me I'll let you come with me. Assuming you haven't died by then."

What did she say?

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Sasuke was swore up a storm in his head, lambasting curses on the woman and the world in general for getting him in this shitty situation. He didn't like the shocked look Kuchiki had sent him upon hearing him being called a shinobi – though it did prove that Kuchiki hadn't recognized him as such, which, despite that Sasuke wanted it that way, stung a little to be honest – and he downright detested the way the woman looked at him as if he was an interesting puzzle waiting to be picked apart. He would not trust her offer for all the power and jutsu in the world.

Well, maybe he would pretend to, if the offer was enticing enough. But never for real.

And right now was not the right moment to try to get his hands on her secrets. Not when he wasn't sure he could get away with them alive, and definitely not in front of a high-ranking Shinigami officer, who might be strong enough to get away and blabber everything he knew to his comrades.

And whose startled look had just turned into wariness.

Damn. Maybe, maybe, he could still talk his way out of Kuchiki's suspicions, but he would have to give up a whole lot more details about his memories and skills than he wanted. He could only hope the idiotic woman wouldn't spill any more dangerous information.

He raised his voice to address her, letting ice drip from every word. "I don't know what your damage is, but if you think I want to join you then you're even crazier than you look."

Instead of being insulted she laughed raucously, showcasing the characteristic teeth of a Kiri shinobi who had dedicated her life and soul to swordsmanship. "How harsh! But I'm glad you're not a coward like most of these quivering idiots. Such a pity you won't have much time to relearn your skills." She gave Sasuke a considering look, followed by a wild grin. "Then again, so far you seem to be my type, so who knows? Maybe you'll surprise me. Now show me how well you do without them!"

She shot forward and Sasuke barely managed to parry, the pieces of his improvised sheath landing with a clatter and a flutter of cut ropes as he strained both arms to match the strength of her double-handed strike. She had definitely increased her speed and strength with chakra. Too bad he barely had the chakra control to reinforce his own muscles like she did. Worse, he couldn't trust quite a number of his reflexes anymore. Reiryoku just didn't work the same as chakra, so trying to use it on reflex was bound to go wrong.

Treat her as a faster and stronger opponent. A battle where you're both injured and exhausted. Don't parry, deflect!

Forcing his sword to a different angle, her blade slid to the side with a screech of metal, the sharp point coming a bit too close to his face for comfort as she tried to press him back.

However, instead of grinning madly, one of the woman's eyebrows rose in clear puzzlement as she looked him in the eye, and around him he could hear some of the Shinigami gasp.

The woman jumped back head tilted as she regarded him with a delighted smile.

"Oooh, maybe I'll really let you live a while longer," she breathed, excitement clear in her voice. "I'm Ringo Ameyuri of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist. Tell me your name," she demanded.

"Shinrin," Sasuke replied, cursing his luck. So his suspicions had been right. Why did he have to run into one of the Seven so soon? She had probably been here far longer and seemed to be in the possession of her memories! Forget questioning how that had happened despite the fact that people weren't supposed to remember according to the Shinigami. This was bad. Without his chakra control he was barely even Chuunin level, despite his knowledge and experience. She had been able to take down Jounin. He doubted she had refrained from regaining that level of competency.

And yeah, theoretically a Chuunin could take down an ANBU officer if he was smart and his abilities were a good counter, but Sasuke doubted he would be so lucky. Whatever Kami governed good fortune definitely didn't like him.

Ashes, why was she even here? He hadn't drawn that much attention. Kami, this was so troublesome. He was barely capable of shunshin, let alone the kind of jutsu he would need to defeat her. And he had heard Omoi's recount of his battle with her. The swordsman of Kumo told it at least once every year during the visit, his team too proud of him to let anyone ever forget what he had done.

Maybe Kuchiki would kill her? That would be nice.

"Shinrin? Konoha?" She gave him a speculative smirk. "Any relation to the Uchiha, perhaps? Your eyes don't match theirs exactly but you definitely got their colours."

Sasuke blinked and then huffed. Ah, so that was why everyone was acting surprised. That might become problematic. He hadn't intended for the Shinigami to see his real eye colour. Or his katana, for that matter. Ah, well. No helping it now. "Tell me something I don't know already."

She smirked, eyes gliding over their audience. Kuchiki was ordering his people to retreat while the Lieutenant himself was stepping closer, sword held ready and a grimly determined look in his eyes. "Hm, maybe if you survive. But first –" she raised her katana high, both hands on the hilt as if preparing for an overhead slash, "– tear and shred, Reikouyayuu!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as her katana warped, splitting into two odd slender rods of which each end split into three prongs. Thin wires connected to the base of the weapons wound up her arms and disappeared into her sleeves.

Sasuke stared in dismay. That… looked uncomfortably like a cross between the Omoi's prized thunder swords and lightning rods. Combine that with the name 'Wild Animal of Cold Light'? Yeah. Ominous.

She stabbed the weird weapons into the ground. Having heard of her favourite jutsu with Kiba, Sasuke immediately took the precautionary approach and was in the air when the first spark of red lightning hit the ground and split it like clay under a hot summer sun, scorching grass and trees as it passed through.

Electricity travels fast. I hope I jumped high enough to avoid it!

The Shinigami, unfortunately, had not had a couple of Kumo nin talk their ears off. They screamed as the crimson lightning travelled up through their feet and tore through their nervous system like wildfire. Kuchiki only groaned, but that might be because he was hit the worst. Standing so close did him no favours when the destructive power of lightning died the further it got from the source.

Ringo grinned as Sasuke landed, viciously satisfied. "Well, you just spared me a difficult choice there. A Shinigami Lieutenant or a fellow shinobi. And you're the one who's still standing."

Her eyes slid towards Kuchiki, who struggling to get back on his feet after taking the brunt of her attack, wisps of smoke rising through his clothes, skin red and irritated as if sunburned. His insides were probably worse off. Still, points for persistence. The other Shinigami weren't nearly as resilient and were still laying motionless on the ground. Sasuke knew he had been right to respect Kuchiki. Though Sasuke was even more wary of Ringo's weapons now.

Not your average lightning jutsu. It was red and causes too much burn damage. Lighting with a serious heat element worked in? which means 'Cold Light' is a reference to lightning itself, not the nature of the jutsu…

Of course. As if his short time among the dead had not brought him enough headaches already.

"I will not let you walk free."

A firm declaration, even though the voice delivering it was raspy. Good to hear Kuchiki wasn't so hurt he would stay out of this. Though Ringo had gained a serious advantage over him. Then again, that was the point of surprising someone. Too bad it had happened to Kuchiki instead of the crazy swordswoman.

Sasuke noticed that the Lieutenant's hands were shaking as he raised his katana. Nerve damage, probably. That would take a chunk of the Shinigami's strength, if only because his muscle control wouldn't be reliable. Not that Kuchiki seemed to care about that.

Kami, this sucked.

Ringo seemed to like it though. She was definitely approving of Kuchiki's attitude. Fair's fair, so did Sasuke.

"Now that's the spirit!" she cheered, her smile gaining a sharp edge. "You know, I used to save the things I like to eat for last, but my death taught me not to hold back and just enjoy myself. However, as much fun fighting you together probably is, I won't gobble up two treats at the same time. That would just be wasteful," Ringo said with a smirk. She raised her weird weapons. "Wait your turn, Shinigami."

Kuchiki was fast despite his injuries, dodging the blast of lightning Ringo threw at him. His own lighting comeback was quite unexpected, but nice to see. Sasuke moved to stab the woman in the back, but she managed to evade both their counters.

"So impatient," she scolded. "Well, if that's how you want it…."

For a second she blurred. Without his Sharingan automatically causing his eyes to follow her Sasuke had to put in some effort to keep track of her. A slash of her blades threw up a blazing wall of lighting, keeping him from interfering for a handful of crucial seconds as Ringo went after Kuchiki.

Kuchiki was putting up a good fight, despite the aftereffects of being electrocuted. His blade had shifted too, into what looked like a host of slender, green-tinged floating blades, like lethal willow leaves riding the wind to carry out his commands.

Huh. Maybe transforming your sword was a Shinigami technique?

Too bad it wasn't doing the Lieutenant much good. Under other circumstances the battle might have been pretty even, but between the Lieutenant's still shaking hands and Ringo's interesting lightning technique that charged the air around her with energy and caused it to divert Kuchiki's blades to the side like magnetic poles being repelled, Ringo succeeded into slipping past Kuchiki's wall of blades and carved three parallel gouges into his shoulder.

Kuchiki's retaliation was good though. Sasuke didn't know what that flashy jutsu had been, but it sure had drawn as much blood from Ringo as she had gotten from him.

At the same time, Sasuke wanted to curse the idiot. Sure, flying blades were handy, especially when you could make them swarm the enemy fast enough to punch through shields – which Ringo, crazy kunoichi that she was, thought was great; then again, crazy was probably a requirement for membership of the Seven – but not when you were surrounding yourself and your opponent with them to the point that your own people couldn't help you.

Or a well-willing unallied shinobi. Which Sasuke was. If he had to choose between Ringo and Kuchiki he'd go for Kuchiki, no doubt. At least the guy didn't want to kill him for sports.

Ashes and fire, it's like Naruto in his honour-battle mode. One-on-one, no matter what common sense says.

Then again, if you didn't think your allies were strong enough to tangle with your opponent, keeping them out would be a good idea. And Kuchiki obviously had very little faith in his people's chances in the face of one of the Seven, given his little speech before Ringo had made the point moot. Which showed that the Lieutenant knew his Shinigami quite well.

Still. Did he have to lump him in with the rest? If nothing else, Sasuke had mean aim. Splitting her attention was not beyond him.

Undercover work. Sometimes the information you got from it just wasn't worth the headache it caused you.

Having no choice, Sasuke observed the battle wish sharp eyes, mentally cursing all the while.

Damn it, Kuchiki. With your sword like this you're a mid-range specialist, and whatever you know of taijutsu will not work as long as you don't have a way to avoid getting cut to pieces. Ringo is a mid-range fighter and a close-range. She's got you at a disadvantage no matter how you turn it! Especially when she can predict the movements of your blades just from looking at your hands. So quit flinging your blades around and let us help!

Obviously, Kuchiki had a pride problem. Or maybe he was just being stupidly samurai. Regardless of common sense, the Lieutenant's green blades kept surrounding him and his opponent like a whirlwind full of pissed off bees. So far he escaped any serious injuries with his shunpo, but Sasuke could see how Kuchiki's injuries slowed him down. Not much, but enough that most of the swordswoman's slashes landed. Glancing blows only, but still. There was a reason why the Death of a Thousand Papercuts actually existed as a jutsu. It was one of the characteristic jutsu of administrative nin.

Now, under other circumstances Sasuke wouldn't have had any problem with leaving Kuchiki to his own devices – who knew, maybe the man had a plan and Sasuke just didn't know enough about Shinigami to figure it out – but that was simply not possible right now.

She wants me. And from what Omoi and his bunch of lunatics said, she'll be able to hunt me down easily enough after she's finished dealing with Kuchiki.

Well, if Kuchiki didn't want to let him help, then Sasuke just had to figure out a way to handle things himself. Just in case Kuchiki failed to kill her.

Sasuke just hoped Kuchiki would weaken her enough that he could take her out later. Right now his odds weren't even funny.

Right. He needed a plan. He had managed to collect four knives – not even close to the quality of even beginner kunai – had no wire to connect them with and no jutsu to run down them anyway. Besides that he had only the remains of his improvised sheath still scattered on the ground, and the tools he had stolen for his katana. And the swords of the unconscious Shinigami, though it was probably better to look for the group further away. No need to give Ringo clues.

Ashes and death, why does this have to happen to me?

Well, no point whining about it. He'd just have to improvise with the few materials he had at his disposal.

First, he had to create some distance. Luckily, Kuchiki was kind enough to buy him some time. Time to see whether his minor experimentation with his new chakra over the last few days had improved his control a little.

If nothing else, I should be able to mask my trail enough that she won't catch up to me immediately.

Taking a deep breath and praying that he had analysed the technique enough, Sasuke focused his reiryoku and flashed away in a rush of shunpo.

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Well, who could have predicted that that there was someone who was not a Shihouin who could move as fast as he? Soujun was dismayed to find how much he struggled against the madwoman. His Shikai had only scratched her so far, and while that were a lot of scratches, clearly they were too shallow to hinder the woman.

Then again, he hadn't expected her Shikai ability to be as devastating as it was. Lightning, expertly manipulated. He could still feel the effects simmer in his bones, painful twinges that undermined his coordination at the most inopportune moments, making him stumble over moves that should have been smooth as flowing silk.

How in the Worlds did Shinrin-san predict it?

She had called him a shinobi, and claimed she was one as well. If shinobi were anything like the Onmitsukidou then the chances of this being just a series of very inconvenient coincidences were far slimmer than he liked. There was a good chance that this was a setup, and Ringo's desire to kill Shinrin was just pretence.

Shinrin-san didn't do anything but slow us down. No poison, no redirection. No knives in the dark. Was his sole purpose to get us to meet her?

His lower arm burned as one of the prongs of her weapons drew a thin line of red across it when he was just a fraction too slow to escape the attack entirely, sparks dancing above the wound. Flashing three steps to the side, he managed to stab one of his blades into her thigh with a twitch of his finger. She slapped it away before he could bury it deeper.

Soujun swore that if Shinrin had sold them out to this woman he would see that Shinrin was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

By the gates, I do not even know whether my people are still alive. They were awfully quiet and right now he couldn't spare the concentration to determine whether their reiatsu was fading with death. He didn't want this madwoman anywhere near them, just in case they were merely unconscious. Unfortunately, Ringo had seen through his manoeuvres almost immediately, and had taken shameless advantage of it since.

Keeping me here, so I can never bring my full power to bear. For someone who claims to love a challenge, she sure is determined to keep me from being one to my fullest capacities.

Or maybe she just loved outmanoeuvring someone who should be an equal or stronger. Which made her words towards Shinrin quite odd. Or would, if he did not suspect that had been an act to buy her time to scope them out.

Speaking of the young man…

His opponent frowned, jumping back to create some distance as she glanced towards the forest. "Well, I'll be damned. He's better than I thought."

A quick glance to the side showed that Shinrin was nowhere to be found. And now he had a moment to pay attention, he couldn't sense the young man's reiatsu anywhere either. So his inability to fully conceal his reiatsu was a farce too. As well concealed as those unsettling eyes of his. Father will scold me for not noticing the discrepancies sooner.

"He's a surprising young man," Soujun allowed. Especially because Shinrin should have no reason to run, with his ally right here.

Unless he thought his ally wasn't going to win the battle.

That would explain why she is so irked. Getting abandoned as a lost cause by an ally must sting. Not to mention, I'm not nearly so sure that I will be the victor here. Did Shinrin-san misjudge the situation?

If he had, the young man was probably in for a world of pain. Ringo Ameyuri did not seem the forgiving type.

Oh well. Not his problem. At least, not until this woman was dealt with.

Calling on Shidareyanagi's blades once more, he directed them at the woman with a wave of his hand, keeping a small number of them back to cover his hands and arms with. Risky, given the edges they carried, but he would not be able to break through her guard if he could not protect himself from her slashes. And Shidareyanagi's blades were tough as the strongest steel. They should be able to turn her blows away.

Now he just had to time it so that he didn't touch her weapons while they were blazing with lightning.

… Oh dear.

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Right, Sasuke thought, brushing some hair out of his face as he checked his last trap. This is about the best I can do right now.

He had been lucky. The Shinigami group Ringo had attacked earlier had been fairly sizable. He had thought he had sensed that, and it was gratifying to find he had accurately estimated their number. It was nice that his chakra sensing was reliable again. Reiatsu was different from the chakra signatures he was used to, which had thrown him off for a while, but now he knew the difference he could recognize both. The upsides of traveling with a group of Shinigami who didn't bother to hide their presence.

Lucky that the second group had been all dead. They wouldn't get upset about him borrowing their blades and equipment, nor would they wake up and bumble into one of his traps, ruining it.

Not that they had had much equipment, but torn clothes worked as well as ropes if you didn't mind the ropes being visible. Sasuke was of Konoha. It would be embarrassing if he didn't know how to conceal such things in a forest. Even if the forest was a lot younger than the forests around Konoha. Young trees were more flexible anyway.

Time to poke the tiger in the eye.

Slinking back to the impromptu battlefield, Sasuke carefully took stock of the situation.

Well, well, will you look at that? Kuchiki is surprisingly creative, Sasuke thought with a smirk. He hadn't realized the Lieutenant's green blades were flexible enough to form some kind of clawed gloves, but evidently they were. Not the safest of solutions, given the trails of blood that leaked from beneath the gloves, but the gamble had effectively put Kuchiki back in the game. With the creation of those claw-gloves he had made himself capable of fighting close-range again. Ringo was already sporting a series of deep gouges as a result. Nice.

But while Kuchiki's new strategy had improved his chances, he was still losing. Blades just weren't a good counter to lightning techniques. Not if both fighters were equally skilled. It was only a matter of time before Ringo would bring him down.

That was fine. Sasuke was perfectly capable of biding his time.

It happened in the blink of an eye. One of her lightning bolts glanced Kuchiki's side. The lightning immediately grounded in the Lieutenant, who screamed as it raged through his body. Ringo followed up by carving him open from shoulder to hip, effectively incapacitating the Shinigami. Kuchiki went down in a splatter of blood, his blades scattering before melting back into a katana.

She probably would have beheaded Kuchiki for good measure if Sasuke hadn't interfered. Ringo aborted her motion just in time to avoid getting a sword in her back, courtesy of the Uchiha having thrown it with quite a lot of force behind it. As it was, she managed to move out of the way far enough for the borrowed katana to glance off her ribs. From experience Sasuke knew it was a painful injury, but he had hoped that his first attack would have reaped a better result.

Goddamn katana. He would kill for some proper kunai right now. At least those could be thrown without making the air whistle as they flew.

Kuchiki gave him a dazed, confused stare while Ringo whirled around, anger and glee warring for dominance on her face. "You-!"

Sasuke didn't stick around, instead running at top speed towards the area he had prepared. It was a good thing Kuchiki was so good at shunpo. Having a good example to compare to had allowed Sasuke to get his competence with the technique up to somewhat acceptable levels.

Which could only ever be a good thing, because a shout behind him signalled that the swordswoman had taken the bait and was in hot pursuit.

Good. With any luck she hadn't bothered to kill Kuchiki properly before coming after him, and the Shinigami would last long enough for one of his healers to wake up and fix him. Sasuke wouldn't be happy to see the Lieutenant die. It would be a waste.

To his relief, Sasuke managed to stay ahead despite the fact that his shunpo was still shaky and demanded more concentration than he liked. Laughter followed him as lightning nipped at his heels.

Omoi had been right. Ringo truly delighted in chasing and terrifying her prey. The Uchiha was glad. He needed all the advantages he could get.

He let himself slow down a little, pretending he was tiring. He let her catch up until her last jump placed her a mere ten meters behind him. Perfect.

Try to laugh about this!

Flinging a knife to cut the trigger, Sasuke poured on a bit more speed, just enough to escape the strong, flexible branch that whipped into his path. Ringo wasn't that lucky. With how close she was behind him, she didn't have the time to dodge and met the branch head-on. Which was a bit more perilous than it seemed at first glance.

Sasuke had tied half a dozen of the Shinigami's swords to the branch so they stabbed forward with lethal intent. And Ringo, good as she was, couldn't block six thrusting swords at the same time. It was physically impossible unless you had a shield.

Sasuke watched with satisfaction as she fell backwards with an agonized scream, ripping the penetration wounds further open. The joys of having the sharp edges point upwards, so gravity made the razor edges cut deeply as it pulled her down.

But the fun didn't end there. He had put the remains of his improvised sheath to good use and had studded the ground beneath the trap with long wooden splinters. Splinters she now landed on.

Now!

He dove forward and threw the katana in his left hand with the full intent to skewer her where she lay. She saw him coming, and in an impressive display of agility and pain tolerance, she rolled out of the path of his thrown sword and onto her feet, narrowly avoiding a lethal wound without letting go of her weapons. She didn't waste any time to create some distance between them, having to duck low to dodge beneath a slash that would have taken her head otherwise.

"Fucking hell, you bastard," she snarled, yanking a foot long splinter out of her side and splattering the ground with blood. "I'll get you back for this." A feral grin. "Though you have my compliments. That was a great trap."

"Thanks," Sasuke said sardonically, eying her wounds. Hmm, she was looking quite battered by now, her clothes more red than green with the amount of blood she was losing. Her strength should be greatly reduced with this. He might just have a chance to see her dead.

"Pity it didn't kill you," he added dispassionately.

She laughed a bit breathlessly. One of the blades had probably nicked her lungs. "You're gonna need more than that to do so," she shot back, eyes bright with challenge.

"Evidently," Sasuke agreed. "Tell me, are you the only shinobi here? There are disturbingly few traces in these parts."

She tilted her head, touching one of her wounds with a thoughtful look. "Hmm, I suppose you've earned some info for giving this a good shot. To be honest, I'm not entirely clear on the issue either, but it seems that only those who were resurrected by that snake bastard ended up here."

She grinned. "Those were fun times. Bunch of crazy powerful shinobi with a handicap, all trying to settle grudges. Was a bloodbath. We of the Seven banded together for the most part. You have no idea what a thrill it is to murder a Kage. Me and my partners in crime got six of them, plus a bunch of other powerful shinobi. Pity about the handicaps though. Some were downright pathetic without their jutsu, no matter how hard they tried to make up for it."

She huffed. "But that was then. Things have gotten boring by now. Masked monsters are no challenge and most Shinigami are just as pathetic. The high-ranking Shinigami rarely come out of their pretty white castles, and they're the only enemies worth fighting nowadays. The few they call ninja here are a joke, weak as Genin and ten times more arrogant. You've got no idea how many people I have to kill every time to lure a good opponent out."

Sasuke wasn't really listening anymore. Instead he was breathless with both elation and despair. Elation because the chance that Itachi would have retained his memories had just increased tremendously. If those subjected to the Edo Tensei had remembered enough to try to settle grudges then surely Itachi would at least recognize him?

At the same time, despair was already biting down on rising hope. Because if a group of very powerful shinobi had remembered what happened, surely they would have gone after every member of the group that started the ridiculous war in the first place? Itachi was good, he was brilliant, and from what Sasuke remembered from before the massacre, his brother had been quite skilled at kenjutsu. Uchiha didn't really get rusty, so Itachi should have at least stood a chance against the other shinobi. But had Itachi been good enough to survive everyone who had been summoned by Kabuto?

Despite his concern, Sasuke couldn't help but grin. "Thank you," he told Ringo. "You've just given me a very good reason to live."

Because even if the chances that Itachi survived were smaller than he liked, he would not rest until he had found out what had happened to his brother. And to do that, he couldn't die here.

"Yeah?" Ringo grinned back. "Well then. Let's see who will walk away here."

"Why not," Sasuke agreed. And ran for it. Slipping quickly in and out of the bushes, he reappeared with another blade in hand.

Ringo grinned gleefully as she saw the borrowed katana, not hesitating to come at him with lethal intent. "So you don't just throw them around, but can dual wield too? Sweet!"

"Glad to have your appreciation," Sasuke grunted as he repelled her, pushing her blades away before she could active her lightning jutsu again. She laughed.

It was annoying that he still didn't know how she had changed her blades, but it wasn't as if he could force them to change back. He would just have to be very careful not to get caught in her lightning techniques.

It was a good thing he had access to katana, he thought, shifting his grip on the two blades a little. The sword he had borrowed felt uncomfortable in his hand, despite that he had been unable to detect anything wrong with the weight or the balance of the weapon. It was that way for all the Shinigami blades. Sasuke ignored the oddity and concentrated on recalling the techniques of the various twin-blade kenjutsu styles he had seen during his life. The Shinobi Alliance born from the war was now proving invaluable once more, as it allowed him to call on techniques he had copied from Killer Bee, Omoi, and several other dual wielders. He would have never been able to learn from them if the Alliance hadn't existed.

Mentally thanking his allies for their generosity, Sasuke used his relearned speed to the max, weaving a deadly dance around the swordswoman. It was fortunate that while jutsu could be incorporated into sword dances, kenjutsu didn't necessarily require more than the most basic jutsu to be effective. All you really needed was a deep understanding of your own body and weapons you were familiar with to create a deadly harmony of swift strikes and edged steel.

Thanks to that, he had little problems using his kenjutsu skills against his opponent.

Unfortunately, he was up against someone who had made kenjutsu her sole speciality. No matter how well the Sharingan worked, it could not entirely make up for the sheer amount of time and dedication Ringo had put in her swordsmanship. His sword dance came smooth as walking. Hers was as natural as her heartbeat. One was simply no match for the other.

As a result, Ringo matched him step for step despite her numerous injuries, her grin growing wider with every clash of metal as he proved himself capable. "I'm liking you more and more," she said gleefully. "You're damn good for someone who doesn't use double swords as his primary weapons. You're gonna be one of my best meals yet!"

Sasuke wasn't surprised she had recognized that he usually preferred single blades. Normally he would have used his free hand for kunai and jutsu, but since he didn't have the former and could barely use the latter, the second sword was the better choice.

"You wish!" he yelled back, before doing what no true dual wielder would ever contemplate unless under the direst of circumstances.

When the pattern isn't working, break the pattern.

Ringo's eyes widened and she sidestepped on reflex, just as the borrowed katana buried itself deeply into her shoulder, thrown with all the strength Sasuke could muster to let it slip past her guard. She hissed in pain, one arm trembling as she kept herself from dropping half of her blades.

"Damn, you really like throwing these around," she complained.

Sasuke didn't wait for her to recover, no matter how disappointed he was that he didn't get her heart. Instead he called, "Hadou number eleven, Tsuzuri Raiden!" pushing as much chakra into the jutsu to make up for skipping the incantation.

Ringo had predicted the follow-up though. She darted out of the way of the glowing rope, ducking under it.

Sasuke swore and yanked his hand back, letting the jutsu collapse. The backlash caught them both.

Unfortunately, Ringo was hardly fazed. Ignoring the smoking of the tips of her weird ear-like hairdo, she threw a lightning bolt his way. Sasuke jumped aside, but was still not up to the speed he was used to. Her jutsu caught him on the arm, electricity rushing through it with devastating force.

He couldn't contain a short cry as he fell to the ground, muscles twitching and useless under the onslaught. It was far stronger than the shocks he had gotten from crossing swords with her. Did she increase the power? His fingers spasmed, and Sasuke had to grit his teeth to keep his grip on his own blade.

The spasms subsided just in time for Sasuke to avoid the prongs aiming for his throat. Everything hurt, but he managed to get back on his feet, sword raised and ready.

"Man, you're tough," Ringo coughed, an appreciative look on her face. She wiped away a trickle of blood that escaped the corner of her mouth before yanking the katana out of her shoulder, ignoring the gush of blood that followed the exit of steel. "Most don't get up that fast. Should've fought you from the start."

She smirked, raising her weapon with her still working arm. The other hung loosely at her side, ready to strike, but no longer strong enough to keep up with her healthy limb. Lightning sparked threateningly from the three prongs of the raised weapon. "It was fun, but this will be the finale. Thrill me , 'kay?"

"We'll see," Sasuke replied, raising his own sword with trembling arms. Lighting really wasn't good for the nervous system. Sakura would scold him if she could see the state he was in now.

Actually, he didn't need Sakura to scold him. He was scolding himself already. Handicap or not, he was disappointed in himself that he wasn't doing better. She was already weakened, yet he was still struggling against her. He really hated that he did not have his Sharingan right now. It would've made things so much easier. If nothing else, he would have avoided that last attack and wouldn't be fighting to stay on his feet right now.

He would die before he would give up though. Giving up just wasn't in him.

:Do you require aid?:

Sasuke started, surprised by the voice. He barely managed to avoid getting beheaded by Ringo as a result.

:Call me.:

Rolling away, he staggered to his feet, narrowly blocking a blow aimed at his stomach, feeling electricity slam through his arms as a result. The voice was distracting. Then again, so were the black spots in his vision and the lingering weakness in his muscles.

Lightning. Nerve damage. Eyes transmit vision through nerves… Question, can she decide which part of the body is affected most?

Bet she can.

Ashes and fire, this was so troublesome.

And if he didn't get his act together, utterly deadly.

:Call my name.:

Sasuke let out a frustrated breath. His legs didn't want to obey him. He forced them to anyway, launching himself into another shunpo to escape Ringo's dancing edge and the energy that sparked off of it.

Only, something went wrong, the new technique clashing with old reflexes, and he crashed to the ground, barely two meters away from the cackling redhead, who, despite her injuries, was still having a lot of fun chasing him around. Sasuke groaned. Damn reflexes. There was a reason why he had tried to kill her with a trap first. Didn't need reflexes for traps.

And… it wasn't a good thing when his head was muddled enough for him to let his thoughts go on tangents during a dangerous battle. Ringo wasn't about to let him get away with it.

:Call my name.:

Sasuke shot away, stumbling out of the range of Ringo's blade. A unsteady shunpo had him running through the forest, creating some distance between him and the madwoman. He flung another knife, but this time Ringo expected the trap and obliterated the thick bough that came thundering down. Her weapons boomed with the ear-splitting crack of thunder and the branch exploded in a rain of lethal splinters which Sasuke only narrowly managed to avoid.

Damn. Not good. All the trap had accomplished was a few seconds reprieve.

:Call my name!:

"What's your name then?" Sasuke gritted out as he hid behind a tree to catch his breath. Terrific, he was talking to voices in his head. Now all he needed were hallucinations, and he could be carted straight to the loony bin.

Around him, the world slid away, and suddenly he found himself standing upon a bough as broad as a road with endless canopy to all directions. Sunlight filtered through leaves, falling in beams of glittering light and dappling every inch of the area with brightness and shadows.

Oooh, fuck my life.

"I didn't mean that literally," Sasuke snarled at nothing.

"You require aid," a voice spoke behind him. Sasuke whirled around, and then stopped to stare, jaw dropping in disbelief.

There, standing on empty air at the same height as he was a creature straight out of legends. Red eyes met the luminous gaze of an elegant cross between a deer and an imperial dragon. The creature was as large as a horse and glowed like a pale star between the scattered beams of sunlight, wild mane and sweeping tail ethereal like spun moonlight, and scales glinting like sparks of pale blue lighting where the sunlight scattered off them like fireworks.

"Aid I can give you," the surreal creature continued, "But for that you have to call my name."

Sasuke gathered himself. For a moment he contemplated the wisdom of talking back to his hallucinations, but then decided that it really didn't matter since he was having hallucinations in the first place. "What the hell are you, and what kind of aid are you talking about."

The star-bright gaze didn't waver. "I am part of you, mirror of yourself. I am your power and your sword, heart and soul, and to wield me in full you need my name."

"… Really now," Sasuke replied, mind racing. A creature that was his sword, who apparently required a name… Didn't Ringo and Kuchiki call upon something when they transformed their swords? A command to their blades? Was it like a weird jutsu, like hand seals to channel the chakra properly? Was that the key to the power the other two had unleashed?

If it was, exactly how drunk had the universe been when it came up with that?

The creature chuckled. Sasuke gave it a very wary look.

"As I am part of you, I can sense your thoughts. You are not wrong."

Sasuke raised a brow and couldn't resist asking, "What, about the key part or the drunk-universe part?"

The creature huffed in amusement. "The first, though I would not be too terribly surprised it the latter held some truth as well."

Despite himself, Sasuke smirked. Hallucination or not, this dragon-deer creature sounded like good company. Pity he didn't really have time for hallucinations right now. This one looked like one worth investigating. After all, it wasn't as if he had eaten anything weird that might have caused him to see things, and he didn't think Ringo's lightning was capable of this.

As if the thought had been the trigger – probably was, given what the creature had already told him – the draconic being turned serious again. "You wish to defeat her."

Sasuke shrugged. "Naturally. It's her or me."

"Indeed. Do you desire my aid then?"

Sasuke studied the creature for a while. Oh hell, whatever. Might as well give this a shot. "If you're willing to give it."

The creature bowed its regal head. "My name is ..."

Sasuke frowned. "What?"

The creature huffed, this time in mild exasperation. "My wielder, if you want my aid, you must as least try honestly."

Sasuke tilted his head. He was still very sceptical, but really, it was common knowledge that hallucinations shouldn't be taken seriously. That lead to bad places.

Then again, it wasn't as if he had much of a future to look forward to if he didn't figure something out soon.

He sighed, gathered every bit of scepticism into a big heap and crushed it with all the determination and discipline he had learned in ANBU. Crazy or not, if that was all you'd got then you'd better give it a damn good try.

"Right, tell me again," he demanded. This time he strained his ears to catch the name that had sounded like a couple of rustling leaves.

The creature regarded him for a moment, before nodding in approval. "My name is-"

The real world roared back into focus, just in time for Sasuke to see pointed edges headed his way.

Sasuke smiled tiredly. It was utterly ridiculous, but the whole being-dead gig had been so far. Complaining wouldn't change the reality he had to live with. He whirled out of the way, raising his sword to the heavens as he did so.

"Blaze across the firmament, Kouten!"

White-blue light illuminated the forest. Ringo yelped as she was blinded by the sudden brightness. In his hand, Sasuke felt his katana's weight change ever so slightly.

Sasuke didn't give his opponent time to blink the spots out of her eyes. He slashed down, thin threads of light spraying like deadly rain from his blade. Ringo swore as every single muscle in her body seized and froze.

Not exactly Chidori Nagashi. But close, so close!

It had been just a handful of days that he had lacked the ability, but the sheer joy of regaining one of his favourite techniques was breath-taking in its strength.

And while Ringo's technique was devastating in the level of injury it caused, Sasuke's was superior in that it did not cause injury, but instead manipulated his opponent's nervous system so precisely that it betrayed its owner.

Some might call his technique weaker, but in his opinion paralysis was much more useful than mere nerve damage.

His next slash took Ringo's head, so fast that the stupefied look on her face didn't fade in the least. The sudden end of the battle was as jarring as the twin thumps of body and head hitting the ground in the sudden silence.

With an exhausted sigh, Sasuke let himself fall back against a tree, sliding down until he sat down heavily on the ground. Now the battle was over and the adrenaline started to ebb, every injury came clamouring loudly to cash in, complaining all the while with the kind of insistent sharpness that meant he would be feeling them for a long time to come. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't in agony.

Guess she got me even better than I'd thought.

Always the problem with battle rush. You tended to ignore anything that wasn't immediately deadly.

Trying to resist the bone-deep exhaustion that dragged at his senses, he let his eye fall on his blade, curious what form it had taken.

The change wasn't as big as he had expected after seeing Ringo's and Kuchiki's sword transformation. All that had really changed about his sword was the tsuba. It was now a narrow, rounded band at the top of the hilt, gleaming like silver, thick enough to provide some protection against an enemy's weapon slipping down the blade but not enough to risk getting snagged and making disarming easy.

Well, look at that. Managed to get rid of the tsuba after all.

He lost consciousness between one breath and the next.


Aaand, cut! Okay, this whole fight turned out ridiculously long, behold the reason why I rarely write complete fighting scenes. I just hope it was as exciting as I thought it was.

Now, on the fight itself:

I noticed in the episode that featured Ringo that her lighting attacks had a bit too much of a heat effect (e.g. heavily charred and burning trees) and explosions (shockwave effect). Lightning can do that, but not on that scale and to such a large variation of mediums. Not to mention that if anything should have exploded, it should have been the trees, not the ground, as sap violently evaporating in an enclosed vessel (aka, the tree), is far more explosive than moisture evaporating between loose grains. True, thunder creates sound, which is basically a shockwave as well, but that isn't nearly violent enough to kick up the dust clouds we see in the anime. I know, Naruto physics aren't the same as ours, but I'm trying to make some sense here. So I'm guessing, what she was using weren't entirely pure lighting techniques, despite their appearance. Or rather, it were lighting attacks with a bit more spice. As in, electricity, if manipulated right, can generate heat. And thunder, turned up to the eleventh, creates some kind of shockwave. So if you're wondering what Sasuke was talking about when he analysed Ringo's ability, this was the reasoning behind it.

(By the way, I've never understood why Omoi's marsh strategy worked. They're high-ranking shinobi in a world where even Genin can stand on water, for crying out loud! Worse, Ringo Ameyuri is from Kiri. Water-walking is as basic a skill as running there. Escaping a marsh should be a cakewalk! Did the lightning fry their brains or something?)

As for Soujun's Shikai, Isshin and Ichigo prove that Zanpakutou abilities are at least somewhat hereditary, so yeah, Soujun's carries some similarities with Byakuya's. 'Shidareyanagi' means 'Weeping Willow'.

Sasuke gained his Shikai already because from what I can gather from the time Ichigo got Zangetsu, gaining your Shikai is not about being well-trained, but about determination. As in, if you truly, truly want it, have the will and drive to get it, then you can, no matter how new you are to the trade. I'm not sure if it would be possible for a Zanpakutou spirit to drag their wielder into his Inner World without him even knowing about the significance of the blade, but Urahara was vague enough towards Ichigo about the whole process (cause let's face it, Ichigo didn't know that much more than Sasuke here) that I think it's in the realm of possibilities.

Kouten means 'Revolution of the Heavens'. I think it suits Sasuke's character. And kudos for everyone who can guess what his spirit is. Don't worry, it's not difficult.

I'm kinda undecided on what should happen next because both options have merit, so let's hear your opinion. Should Itachi be alive or not? Give reasons for why or why not!

See ya next time!

PS. Already got a question about it, so let me clarify: 'snake bastard' can refer to either Orochimaru or Kabuto (Kabuto was pretty snaky near the end). So everyone subjected to the Edo Tensei ended up in Soul Society. Now, Keeper (would be nice if you logged in next time so I can reply more directly), wondered how the fighting could have become so bad when Harashima, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato were present as well. Let me remind you that these four Hokages were no saints (no matter how Kishimoto painted them as all that is good and holy), and most of those who were resurrected were not friends of one another. Quite a few were actually active enemies, given the past Ninja Wars; Naruto might have been ridiculous enough to become friends with everyone and their grandma, but at least he has never had flee on sight orders attached to his name. That matters.

To quote Ringo's view on the issue: 'Bunch of crazy powerful shinobi with a handicap, all trying to settle grudges.' The handicap being, in this case, that everyone had issues with their chakra and no one could use chakra-based jutsu. Now let me remind you that the four Hokages all relied pretty heavily on charka-based jutsu (Harashima on his Mukoton, Hiruzen who was famous his extensive knowledge in this area, and Minato on the Hiraishin). Even if they managed to find each other (which wouldn't have been all that easy given the size of Soul Society) and worked together, they would have a hard time fending of the shinobi who specialized in less chakra-reliant combat styles (e.g. the Seven Swordsmen; though they primarily used special equipment, I assume that they at least knew their way around ordinary katana). Of course, they might have won and survived. But their chances are not nearly as high as they would have been if they had kept their abilities, especially because they were all fairly well-known and thus would have had a lot of people from other villages hunting them.

Not to mention that the Shinigami were not amused with the fighting (especially if it happened near Seireitei or on Academy grounds, which is a distinct possibility, given that every shinobi would have been interested in the Shinigami), and thus might not have cared whether they left any of the troublemakers alive.

So yeah. 'Bloodbath' really is an apt description.