Chapter 15 – Rebirth
"This is amazing", someone breathed, as they all looked up.
"Zaraki-taicho is trying to break free!", one of the analysts warned.
In the place where he was frozen solid the ice started to crack until it burst away in all directions, only visible through the cleared spot below him.
"Oi, give me a heads-up next time!", Zaraki yelled at no one in particular, as the snow settled around him.
More and more of the ice melted and gave view to the gigantic ice dragon hovering above them.
"I-is that a Hollow?", Choji asked, awe and fear in his voice.
"It's magnificent ...", Yumichika commented with glee.
"That's Hyourinmaru, Captain Hitsugaya's Zanpakutou Spirit", Byakuya answered calmly, even if he had never seen it himself and was quite impressed by the beast.
"Get them down!", Sui-Feng ordered.
Right away two holes opened and Zaraki's Reaitsu washed over them. Ino trembled and would have sunken to her knees again if it weren't for the wall of sand, ice and cherry blossoms that shielded them. Above the Spirit faded into a mist of snow, while his master, a young boy with white hair and the Captain's Haori in his hands, and a young woman with her hair in a bun entered the barrier.
"Wussies", Zaraki commented with a huff as he landed before the gathered people.
"Ken-chan!", Yachiru yelled. She jumped onto his back and put something on his face and his Reaitsu started to fade.
Byakuya and Rukia lowered their barriers, Gaara followed suit. When Zaraki turned, one of his eyes was covered by an eye-patch.
"These are small-fry. I'm going back", Zaraki decided and went off towards the gate. "Ikkaku, Yumichika, you comin'?", he called out to his subordinates.
"Right away, Captain", Ikkaku replied and appeared before Bee. "We'll have our fight one day", he promised the Jinchuuriki.
"You betcha!", Bee replied holding out his fist.
Ikkaku bumped it with his own, a wide grin on his face. "And you still owe me a re-match", he called out to TenTen.
"Only if we use training weapons, I'm pretty sure I don't stand a chance against you and your cleaver ...", she replied, still impressed by what the other had shown in his fight against the Hollows.
Ikkaku laughed. "Don't underestimate yourself girl. Aim high! And don't think dying would get you out of this! I'll see you on the other side!" With that he waved and went after his colleagues.
"That boy is a Captain?", A commented, looking down on Hitsugaya, who had put his Haori back over his shoulders.
"Hitsugaya-taicho happens to be one of our most powerful warriors", Byakuya stepped in and reminded the Raikage: "One of you Kage's is not much older than a child himself."
"Fair point", A laughed.
"Has everyone arrived?", Hinamori changed the topic.
"Hisagi-san and Kira are still missing", Renji answered instead of his captain.
"Has one of them wind-powers?", Naruto called out from the barrier, "There is something like a whirlwind coming from the direction of the Land of Iron."
"Kazeshini", Hinamori and Renji said at the same time.
"How far away is it?", Abarai asked."
"It's still a while, but shouldn't be long now", the Shinobi replied.
"What a relief ..." Hinamori folded her hands before her, a small smile on her lips.
"Commence phase two!", Sui-Feng interrupted further talk.
Isane and three of the others stepped away from the barrier and more towards the middle of the Training Grounds, where they stood in a rectangle facing each other. "Ready", she declared.
It took a few seconds until Sui-Feng could give the command to start, as she waited for the other teams to give their signal. Once they did the Shinigami in all the different villages and predetermined locations simultaneously made the hand signs and recited the incantation of the Kidou, then they put out their flat hands. From their palms a white, rectangular pillar rose towards to the barrier and crossed through it, without causing damage. As it had finished to grow bright beams spread from it into several directions without loosing contact. A few stray Hollows still raged atop the barrier, trying to break through. All across the world the beams connected and when they did a blanket of energy weaved its way to cover everything between them. Kurotsuchi observed the process and bellowed commands to his subordinates, who sent additional Reaitsu up through the pillars to spread across the lands. When everything was connected the blanket rose from the pillars and pushed the remaining Hollows upwards with it. It pushed and pushed until the border of the realm was reached. Screeching and screaming the evil ghosts returned through the cracks to their domain. When they were gone the Reaitsu merged with the border and was no longer visible.
"Well, that should do it", Kurotsuchi declared, rubbing his hands in satisfaction. "Pack everything up, we have lots of data to analyze!"
Sui-Feng stepped before the Kages, Tsunade had joined them by now. "All that's left to do now is taking care of the Hollows that hid underneath the barrier. We will send out teams to assure that your people won't be bothered by them any longer."
"It would also be advisable if we'd change the conditions to our standing contract", Byakuya added, "I don't think the ten year rhythm would suffice currently."
"Right, yes, it would probably be good to make sure the natural defense has been properly restored", she agreed, nodding. "You could now have your people test it", she offered towards the Kages.
As soon as the barrier had been taken down Bee changed into his Tailed Beast form, while Naruto cloaked himself in the Kyuubi's Chakra. In anticipation they watched the sky, but no tear opened. A sigh of relief ran through the crowd. Suddenly the wind rose up. Ready to attack the potential threat they drew there weapons as a whirlwind came steering towards them, not touching the ground. Reaching the Training Grounds it dissipated and three men stood there in its place. One blond, with a bang of hair covering half his face swayed heavily. He leaned against a black haired man with a tattoo on his cheek. For a moment a shadowy figure stood behind them, then it was gone.
"Hisagi-san! Kira-kun!", Hinamori called out and greeted the new arrivals.
"It's over now and you all get back to wherever it is Death Gods go to", Tsunade concluded, looking from Matsumoto to the other Shinigami until her eyes came to rest on Jiraya, who chatted with Naruto's mother.
"Yes, we will return to Soul Society and you may resume your war", Byakuya confirmed.
"B-but how does all that even work?", Tsunade wanted to know waving at all and nothing in particular.
"Oh, may I, Nii-sama?", Rukia asked and got out her sketch block.
After an acknowledging nod the younger Kuchiki scribbled away for a moment before she presented the result to the remaining Shinobi.
"You see the universe consists of several different mortal realms", Rukia explained, pointing at the middle of the paper, where she had drawn several semi-circles. "If a person dies their soul travels to Soul Society, our realm, where it might be able to become a Shinigami", she continued, pointing at a bunny head and the arrow that pointed to a circle at the top, where said bunny held a sword. "Or it becomes a Hollow and enters Hueco Mundo, the realm of Hollows", she pointed to the arrow leading downwards to one of two circles at the bottom. The bunny now wore a mask "If we destroy a Hollow, we cleanse it from its sins committed after their death and it can enter Soul Society." The broken mask lay below the bunny that rose back up with an arrow. "Souls that pass in Soul Society return to the Circle of Rebirth and they can be reborn again. Though not necessarily in their original realm." The bunny went down to the mortal realm circles. "Any questions?", Rukia closed her explanation.
"Why is that soul a bunny?", Kankurou dared to ask. His forehead soon made acquaintance with Rukia's pen.
"So, let me get this straight: Every Shinobi that ever died is either in Soul Society, that Heco-thing or reborn already?", Shikamaru wanted to make sure, "And it's your job to make sure the whole thing isn't unbalanced?"
"It is indeed", Byakuya answered calmly.
"So didn't killing all these Hollows here make quite a mess in your place?", Shikamaru concluded.
"Not necessarily. We recently had a war of our own with many casualties." Byakuya didn't like to be questioned like this.
"I see ...", the Shinobi gave in.
"Well, it's time for us to leave", Byakuya declared, as most of the staff at already cleaned up the area.
"It was interesting meeting you." Tsunade held out her hand.
A small grin tugged at the corner of Byakuya's lips as he took it. "It certainly was."
Author's Note: And here we are with the last chapter! I hope to get the Epilogue done shortly. I have to do several re-writes as the version I have is from at least 2015 and the plot changed quite a bit since then. In it you'll get the proper farewells. =)
I hope you like my rebirth-explanation and I'm pretty sure I got this from Bleach itself, as there was a picture of an hourglass with souls in the top and bottom part and the mortal world in the little bowl in the middle. Or at least I remember seeing something like that, that originally kind of inspired this whole thing. Like "What if Karakura Town wasn't the only mortal realm?"
Anyway, see you with the epilogue!
Writing soundtrack: Sabaton – Camouflage/ Last Dying Breath