Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: I'm skipping the fight between Ichigo and Aizen because I don't want to bore you guys with what you've most likely seen before. I'm also including but also skipping through some dialogue between Urahara and Aizen.

I'll also be skipping the Substitute Shinigami Arc and the Fullbringer Arc and will be going straight to the Quincy Arc. I feel like that arc dragged on too long, so… yeah.

I feel as if this chapter might've been not as nearly as good as it could've been. I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Thanks.

Things to Note: Remember that in this story, I expanded upon Soul Society. There are three smaller Seireitei's throughout Soul Society, the main one being Southern Seireitei, and the others being Northern, Western, and Eastern Seireitei.

Chapter 14: The Aftermath – The Akatsuki's Move

Those are the words of a defeated man! A victor must speak not of the current state of the world, but of how it should rightfully be!

- Aizen Sosuke

|Battlefield|

"I have won, Kurosaki Ichigo…" Aizen had a triumphant look as he stood over a severely weakened Ichigo. "…and you have lost."

Aizen's eyes widened in utter shock as a bright red spike shot out of his chest. "Wh-What in the-?!" Aizen stepped back as multiple spikes shot out of his chest. "What is this?! Kido?! But when was I attacked?!"

"Seems like it's finally taking effect." Aizen and Ichigo turned to see Urahara dropping down on the ground a few feet away from them.

"Urahara Kisuke," said Aizen menacingly. "Is this your doing?!"

Urahara nodded in affirmative. "Before you completely transformed, I was able to plant another Kido into the Kido spell that I shot at you." He paused for a moment so that this could sink in. "It's a seal. I figured that once you fused with the Hogyoku, you'd be almost impossible to kill. This is a new Kido that I invented to seal you off."

Aizen roared as he struggled furiously against the seal that slowly wound around his body. "Urahara Kisuke!" he roared as he glared at Urahara. "I despise you! Why won't you take action with your great intellect?! Why do you subjugate yourself to that thing?!"

"You mean the Soul King?" Urahara closed his eyes as he thought about this momentarily. "Without the existence of it, Soul Society would split apart. It's the keystone of Soul Society… That's why."

Aizen seemed to grow furious as he heard the answer. "That's an argument that a loser would make!" he retorted angrily. "The victor must always speak of how to world could be rather than how the world is!" Aizen struggled to break free from the seal as he glared at Urahara. "I-!" His voice was immediately cut off as the seal finished encasing Aizen, turning into a three crossed swords right after.

Ichigo looked away, unable to handle the view. Urahara, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm as he studied the aftermath of his seal. After a brief moment, he looked down at Ichigo, sensing the orange-haired Shinigami's reiryoku dropping sharply within each passing minute. His reiryoku, which was impossible to sense or even get a feel of just a few minutes ago, is now at a level barely higher than a captain's…

"You should be proud," said Urahara finally. "Because of you, your world, as well as Soul Society, was saved."

Ichigo remained silent as he continued to stare down at the ground for a few long seconds. "…Urahara-san," he said in a quiet voice. "Do you think that Aizen-?" Ichigo's eyes widened in shock as he and Urahara heard the slightest flutter of a cloak behind them. Oh shi-! His head snapping around towards the source of the sound, he and Urahara looked on his shock at what lay behind them.

Standing in front of their eyes was a person whose aura and reiatsu alone caused them to break into cold sweat. He was a male with short spiky orange hair and unusual violet eyes which had strange hypnotic ripple-like patterns. He had an attractive yet composed and incredibly imposing face which told them that this wasn't someone to trifle with. He wore a black cloak with a chin-high collar that had red cloud patterns imprinted on them. He also had multiple piercings on his nose, ears, and lips, and he also wore a black headband with three vertical lines on them that had a horizontal line cutting through them. He also wore a violet and silver ring that had the kanji for "zero" on it as well as a black six-tomoe necklace.

The figure took a step forward as he stared calmly at the seal. Ichigo and Urahara- both who were frozen in their spots- could only watch as the figure took another step towards the seal. Urahara finally snapped out of his frozen state and stared hard at the new arrival. "Stop right there," ordered Urahara in firm tone. When the figure didn't respond, Urahara grimaced as he became unnaturally still. His finger twitching ever-so-slightly, he stepped forward as he quietly murmured an incantation. Raising his hand and holding it out in front of him, a static of bright blue lightning appeared in the palm of his hand.

"Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!" A bright blue beam of electrical energy surged from Urahara's palm and sped towards the figure. Ichigo looked on in awe as a giant explosion completely the side of the already-devastated mountains. A giant cloud of dust rose, covering the area and leaving Urahara and Ichigo blind momentarily.

"D-Did it work?" asked Ichigo finally. "There's no way that even Aizen could've survived that attack without being injured at least a little bit."

…

"The desperate attack… Finally." The deep voice that came from the cloud of smoke was strangely mesmerizing and commanding. "An impressive try, but nonetheless ineffective." When the dust cleared up, both Ichigo and Urahara looked on in shock as the figure stared back at them, completely unharmed. "I-Impossible," whispered Ichigo in utter shock. "H-How could he…?"

Urahara's eyes were wide as he stared at the figure in shock mixed with awe. Th-This person… I can't believe that I wasn't able to see it before… His reiryoku level is out of this world…! To possess a reiryoku which is on par with the soutaichou's… Just who is this man…?

"Now…" The figure approached the seal and pressed his hand against the middle of the crossed blades. "An impressive seal…" He glanced at Urahara out of the corner of his eyes. "Your sealing Kido?" Without waiting for an answer, he returned his gaze to his the seal. Closing his eyes, the figure became completely still as he concentrated on the seal. A second later a small ripple of violet energy reverberated throughout the seal, but nothing happened.

"A most impressive seal," said the figure with a small scoff of humor. "It seems I came in too late."

Urahara took a step forward, his hands straying towards his Zanpakuto. "Who-… Who are you, if I may ask?" As the figure turned to look at Urahara, Urahara grabbed the hilt of his Zanpakuto, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. "You're obviously an acquaintance of Aizen-san's, but… who are you?"

…

The figure seemed to be amused by Urahara's nervous tone, but it didn't show on his emotionless face. "You can call me Pain."

"Pain?"

Pain turned around and began walking away from the seal and the two Shinigami. "Farewell, you two." And with that, he disappeared into a wisp of smoke.

"Urahara-san, do you know that man?" inquired Ichigo curiously. "I-." Ichigo suddenly doubled over in pain as he screamed out loud. Urahara rushed over to Ichigo and checked to see what was wrong. A concerned look appeared in his eyes as he looked over Ichigo,

"Kurosaki-san…"

Ichigo felt his vision blur as he looked up at the sky. My strength is leaving my body… At this rate, my Shinigami powers…

…

…Dammit.

|1st Division Barracks, Seireitei, Soul Society|

One week later…

Urahara and Yoruichi were standing in front of Yamamoto Genryusai and his vice-captain, Chojiro. With Aizen safely locked up and Ichigo's Shinigami powers stable for the time being, everything was right and peaceful in Soul Society… or so they thought. With Urahara's alarming news on the strange arrival called Pain, Yamamoto called for a meeting to discuss the issue immediately after the stabilization of Soul Society as well as the World of the Living.

"So…" Yamamoto frowned as he tried to piece everything that Urahara had told him together. "A Shinigami appeared and tried to undo your sealing Kido… and then he just left. Am I correct in what I had heard?"

"Yes, sir," said Urahara with a small bow. "Although I wasn't exactly sure whether or not he was a Shinigami. I couldn't see any Zanpakuto in his possession. But he was able to somehow survive my Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō without any signs of injury. I can't think of anyone except a Shinigami that could have done that."

"What you seek, Urahara Kisuke," began Yamamoto, "What you seek… is with me."

Urahara and Yoruichi, as well as Chojiro, looked at the soutaichou in surprise. "What do you mean, soutaichou-san?" asked Urahara curiously. "You know this person?"

Yamamoto waited for an incredibly long time before answering. "This is classified information that only the current captains of the Gotei 13 are allowed to know," he answered finally. "Any captain that is discharged or is no longer one of us has had their memory wiped clean in order to prevent any leak of this information." He looked over at Chojiro, who stood at attention immediately. "Summon the captains for an immediate captain's meeting. Any captain who refuses to show will be immediately reprimanded and sent to the confinement chambers in chains until further notice."

|Kuchiki Manor, Seireitei, Soul Society|

Meanwhile…

Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Ishida, Chad, Orihime, as well as Naruto and Sasuke, were in Rukia's chambers, where Ichigo had been resting ever since his final battle with Aizen. Naruto and Sasuke had healed incredibly fast, while the rest of the Gotei 13 main players were either almost done recuperating or still recuperating from their injuries.

Ichigo had told the seven about Pain, but no one else because of Urahara's request for him to tell no one except the seven. Even so, the others were incredibly shocked in what they had heard.

"So this Pain guy," began Rukia. "He just walked up to the seal right in front of you and Urahara-san? He just walked up to it?" When Ichigo opened his mouth to reply, she held up her hand, silencing him. "I really don't get it, Ichigo. I understand that you were weakened by your Final Getsuga Tensho, but even so, you could've easily taken him out a single swing of your Zanpakuto!"

Renji nodded in agreement from his position at the corner of the room. "I agree with Rukia. There's no way that this guy was stronger than you, Ichigo. He's an accomplice of Aizen's, right? Well, after your training in the Dangai, you were stronger than even the soutaichou. A captain would've been to you what new recruits are to them. Why didn't you take action?"

"Y-You guys," stuttered Orihime nervously. "I don't think that we should be so h-harsh to Kurosaki-kun… He did just save both of our worlds, after all."

…

"Orihime's right," said Rukia. "We're sorry. It's just that this is a lot to take in… We finally get rid of Aizen, and there's a new enemy that we have to worry about now." Rukia glanced up at Ichigo, a deadly serious glint in his eyes. "Ichigo… Who was this guy? He was able to stop a level 88 Hadō spell. Not even a captain could've gotten off that easily, especially with the person having been Urahara-san."

…

Ichigo glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke, who had been quietly listening to them talk for the past couple of minutes. "So, Naruto, Sasuke," he started, "what are you guys planning on doing next?"

Naruto was now dressed in a black chin-high collared haori with dark orange lined patterns. Sasuke, on the other hand, was dressed in a sleeveless dark grey shirt with matching armguards and pants.

Naruto sighed as he glanced over at the bright blue sky and the slowly moving clouds. "Well, I have my own things to do… mainly master my Bankai. I still can't manage to control the amount of strength that I put into the attacks, and I can't perfectly harmonize with it…"

Everyone in the room then turned to Sasuke, who looked slightly annoyed by the group. "What I do from here on out is my business, not any of yours," he said coldly. "Keep your attention focused on the problem that you Shinigami have, not on me."

"So cold…" Ichigo frowned comically at Sasuke, and then turned to look at Ishida. "You two could be best friends, you know." He grinned as this earned him a scowl from Ishida, and he turned away just as Ishida was about to shout out a reply, pissing him off even more.

|The Desert, Soul Society|

Pain didn't even blink as he walked through the sandstorm that pelted him with sand constantly. Stopping only when he reached an unusually large cave that seemed out of place with the rest of the barren wasteland. In front of the entrance to the cave was a giant boulder that towered over Pain. Stretching out his hand, he murmured a string of inaudible lines as a violet glow began to emit from the palm of his hand.

…

The ground began to shake as the boulder began to shake and tremble. Impossibly, the boulder then rose from the ground until it stood over ten feet above the air, only dropping back down onto the ground when Pain past its' belly and into the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

…

Pain stopped in front of the entrance to the cave, the boulder back on the ground, blocking the entrance. The entire cave was barren save for a large humanoid statue which had its hands open with its' ten fingers facing upwards.

"Now…"

|Captain's Chambers, Seireitei, Soul Society|

All thirteen captains of the Gotei 13 were gathered in the Captain's Chambers as well as Urahara, Yoruichi, and Ichigo. If the captains looked surprised at the fact that there were non-captains present in the room, they hid it well.

Yamamoto glanced around the room, nodding in satisfaction that all of the captains were present. "The Akatsuki." These sudden and simple two words caused the whole entire room minus the three non-captains to look over Yamamoto in surprise.

"Soutaichou," began Soifon, "what is Yoruichi-sama and the other two's business in this matter. We were all told that the only ones who knew of this matter were-."

"I know what I had said," growled Yamamoto, "but this is no longer the case. Urahara Kisuke and Kurosaki Ichigo have seen one of the Akatsuki members with their own eyes after Ichigo's defeat of Aizen, so this can only mean that the Akatsuki have come out of hiding."

The captains looked over at Urahara and Ichigo in utter shock. "Y-You actually saw an Akatsuki member?" questioned Ukitake in great surprise. "Urahara-san, Ichigo-kun, is this true?"

"Yeah," replied Ichigo, "and he was strong. Unbelievably strong. When I first sensed his reiatsu, I felt like I was standing in front of gramps over here." He gestured over to Yamamoto to make his point. "His reiryoku wasn't quite on the same level, but it was close enough to where I could barely make out the difference until I focused on it." Pausing, Ichigo looked distraught as he continued. "After using my Final Getsuga Tensho, I was still on a level way above a captain's, but this guy… he didn't seem fazed at all by me; in fact, I couldn't move because of his incredible reiatsu."

The room remained silent as they took all of this in. Finally, Unohana spoke. "Kurosaki-san, please describe this person to us." Ichigo looked over at Urahara and then at Yamamoto for permission; when he got nods of approval, he started.

"Well…" Ichigo sighed as he looked up at the ceiling for a brief moment. "It's pretty easy to describe him, to be honest… He had orange hair like me, but short and spiked up… He had all these piercings on his ears, nose, as well as two below his lips. And his eyes… the craziest eyes I had ever seen… Violet eyes with these circle patterns that made them look like a pool of water…" Ichigo blinked as he realized that every single person was staring at him with expressions of shock mixed with horror. "Wh-What? Did I say something wrong?" asked Ichigo nervously.

"Impossible…" whispered Byakuya. "Another Rinnegan wielder…?"

Ichigo blinked in surprise. "What? What the hell is a Rinnegan?"

…

"The Rinnegan." This was Ukitake that spoke. "The power generated in the eyes… The legendary power of the Rikudou Sennin…"

"Rikudou Sennin?" Ichigo looked confused. "Who's that?"

"It would take too long to explain," said Yamamoto gruffly. "All you need to know is that this Pain is part of the Akatsuki- probably their leader."

"Who exactly is this Pain, soutaichou-san?" inquired Urahara. "It's quite obvious that you know this man, but you aren't fond of him, if I may make an assumption?"

Yamamoto became unnaturally still for a still long minute before answering Urahara. "One hundred and forty years ago, the Gotei 13 attacked a village about a week's worth of travel from here… It was because at that time, it was part of Western Seireitei, and we were at war with them." He paused for a moment before continuing as if telling the story was difficult for him. "We completely wiped out their army, and when we were exiting the village, I was approached by a small boy of not even ten years old. He didn't speak… He just stared at me with his eyes… The Rinnegan…"

The room was completely silent as they listened to the soutaichou's story.

"I took him in as a Shinigami," continued Yamamoto. "He entered the Spiritual Arts Academy right after we returned to Seireitei, and he graduated in just five years. He was a quiet and a recluse who never spoke to anyone. When he graduated, he entered a different branch of the Gotei 13- the ANBU Black Ops." He glanced over at Ichigo. "I will explain what they are to you later."

Ichigo nodded, focusing on the story at hand.

"But fifty years later… he just disappeared."

|Cave, The Desert, Soul Society|

Pain was now standing on the left thumb of the humanoid statue. Seven other figures were now present in the cave, each standing on their own spots. "Welcome, comrades" said Pain quietly; even so, his voice resonated throughout the large cave. "I come with despairing news concerning our ally, Aizen Sosuke."

…

"It seems that he was defeated at hand by Kurosaki Ichigo during his invasion of Karakura Town," continued Pain, "and he is now locked up in the Muken."

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he stared at Pain, almost as if he was trying to figure out whether Pain was joking or not. "Aizen Sosuke was stronger than almost any of us here," he said in his usually calm and monotone voice. "With the Hogyoku, he could've taken on any of us except arguably you, leader… Our top priority should be to get rid of Kurosaki Ichigo right away before he-."

"Kurosaki Ichigo is no longer a problem for us," Pain reassured his subordinate. "He lost his powers during the fight with Aizen, so we should all be grateful to him for that… As for Aizen, his defeat wasn't a complete loss for us. Before the invasion, one of our members underwent the Hollowfication as an experiment for Aizen… I'm happy to say that it was a complete success."

A figure hidden by the shadows didn't even respond as Pain and the others glanced towards his direction. It was obvious that he was wearing the standard Akatsuki cloak, but apart from that, it was impossible to tell what he looked like except for his unusually bright, blue-green eyes.

"Now, onto the matter at hand," continued Pain. "One of our members is locked up in Owari, the lowest level of the underground prison. He is right below Aizen Sosuke, but Aizen is no longer our problem for now." He glanced at Deidara, who was standing next to Sasori. "You're up, Deidara."

"You got it, my man," said Deidara enthusiastically. "Breaking into the most secure prison in probably all of Soul Society… An opponent worthy of my abilities, hm."

Sasori seemed to dislike Deidara's cockiness, this being apparent by the way his nose crinkled as if there was a bad odor in the cave. "Don't get so cocky, Deidara," he scolded quietly. "Young ones like you always end up dying much too early…"

"'Young ones?'" repeated Deidara with a scoff. "Says the guy in the room who looks like he hasn't even hit puberty yet."

Sasori glared at Deidara in annoyance as he toyed with the hilt of his Zanpakuto. "I'll say it again… Don't get so cocky."

"Enough of the quarreling," ordered Pain sternly. "Deidara, you'll leave immediately. I expect a message from both you and our comrade by the second day."

"Understood," grinned Deidara as he jumped down from the statue. Landing softly on the ground, he produced a straw hat with small ornamental torques and tassels and wore it on his head. "It might take me a little longer to scout out the place, but I'll do my best."

…

"You're all dismissed."

|Seireitei, Soul Society|

THUD! Jidanbo landed hard on the ground as his two now-broken axes landed on the ground beside him with a loud thud. A small figure wearing an tasseled straw hat jumped on the giant's chest and walked forward so that he was right in front of his face.

"Wh-What do you want?!" Jidanbo asked nervously. "Wh-Why are you here?!"

The attacker lifted the straw hat up with his finger to reveal his face to Jidanbo. It was Deidara, a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Be a good man and open the gate for me, will you?"

|Owari, Seireitei, Soul Society|

A Shinigami guard dropped backwards as his eyes rolled upwards, revealing the whites of his eyes as he fell on his back, unconscious. Deidara strolled past the unconscious guard and resumed descending down the flight of stairs to Owari, the lowest level of the underground prison. As he reached a giant gate, ten more Shinigami guards came dropping down from above, their Zanpakuto unsheathed.

"Oh?" Deidara seemed amused as he counted up the Shinigami guards. "Ten? Well then…" Drawing his Zanpakuto halfway from its' sheath, his single visible eye grew wide as a Shinigami swung his Zanpakuto at Deidara, their blades clashing together in a spark of frenzy.

"Go, Bakuton!"

…

A giant explosion filled the cave as the ten Shinigami guards went flying in all directions. Deidara sped out of the explosion, skidding to a halt ten feet away from the cloud of dust that filled the air. Glancing around at his handiwork, he nodded in satisfaction as he strolled past the unconscious guards and towards the gate.

Deidara reached out at the gate and pressed his hand against it, his eyes narrowing as he felt some kind of barrier between him and the gate. Of course… This gate is guarding him after all… A guy even more dangerous than that Aizen Sosuke… Closing his eyes, he pondered on what to do for a full minute before opening his eyes. After this, we'll only have about three minutes before the backup gets here… We'll probably have to rely on his abilities to get us out of here.

Unsheathing his Zanpakuto, Deidara held it out in front of him sideways so that he could see reflection in the sleek and shiny blade.

…

"Bankai."

Itachi, who was quietly meditating under the waterfall, opened his eyes as he heard a giant explosion fill the cave, even more enormous than the previous explosion he had heard just a few moments ago. The gate imprisoning Itachi blew open from the force of the explosion, revealing Deidara stepping out from the cloud of dust.

"Deidara, huh?" Itachi's face didn't show any sign of emotion as he stared at Deidara. "So they sent the loud one this time."

Deidara scowled as he slid his Zanpakuto back into its' sheath. "Whatever. Let's just get going." As he and Itachi headed for the entrance, Deidara glanced at Itachi's side, noticing the absence of his Zanpakuto.

"Say… Where's your Zanpakuto?"

Itachi glanced at Deidara out of the corner of his eyes as they stepped out of the gate. "It's customary for the prisoner to be relieved of his weapon before being imprisoned." Ignoring Deidara's scowl, he walked over to the right side of the cave and glanced over it before tapping on the wall with his finger. "Here," said Itachi as he glanced at Deidara.

Sighing, Deidara reluctantly trudged over to the wall and unsheathed his Zanpakuto once more, swinging it in reverse with an almost lazy-like movement.

THUD! The wall trembled as a huge chunk of it was turned into rubble by Deidara's attack. An object fell from amid the rubble, which Itachi caught with swift and fluid movements. It was a sheathed Zanpakuto which had a black hilt with blood red diamond patterns on it.

"The place where they suspect will be the last place to be searched will always be the first," said Itachi as he carried his Zanpakuto by the hilt. "Let's go."

"Just what I was about to say, hm," agreed Deidara as he and Itachi headed up the stairs.

|Seireitei, Soul Society|

Itachi and Deidara headed for the northern gate of Seireitei, calm as can be. Loud sirens and cries could be heard behind them, but the two ignored the noises as they continued onwards.

"So," began Deidara, "once we get out of this place, we'll need to report our success to Leader."

Itachi nodded in understanding as the two entered a small forest that led to the northern gate. "We'll get on it as soon as we-." He stopped walking suddenly, his face like stone. "Very impressive, captain," he said suddenly, surprising Deidara. "How did you manage to find us?"

"Did you really think that we'd let two strong guys like you two just walk away?" asked a gruff voice behind them.

Itachi and Deidara turned around to see a ragged yet ferocious-looking male standing behind him, the blade of his Zanpakuto resting on his shoulder. "Juichibantai-taichou, Zaraki Kenpachi," said the male, introducing himself with a bloodthirsty grin. "I came to fight you two to the death, so don't disappoint me."

Translations:

- Bakuton: Explosion Release.