Before the Chunin Exams

"Don't unleash it unless you believe you are in danger of dying. And even then, control its power. Don't kill anyone, you upstart, or I swear..."

During Ichigo's fight

"He's a little underwhelming."

"Hmm?" Might Guy murmured as he picked out a steaming hot plate of tempura from a stand inside the stadium.

"That transfer student has a crazy amount of power and chakra, but he doesn't act like any conventional ninjas...how does he expect to win with such weak strategic abilities?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

Before the Chunin Exams

"Don't unleash it unless you believe you are in danger of dying. And even then, control its power. Don't kill anyone, you upstart, or I swear, I will make you regret it...Ichigo.

After the Chunin Exams

Both Hokage of the Sand and Hidden Leaf villages stood by Anko as she announced, "We will be holding the ceremony celebrating those who have passed the Chunin exams."

Then she stabbed the Hokage from the Sand village in the heart.

Before the Chunin Exams

"I don't know if you noticed, but your bankai has potential. It has the potential to rule over all other powers in speed, in agility, in strength. When I fought your father he easily beat me."

Ichigo quietly asked, "Is bankai really so strong? Is it really strong enough to overwhelm a hokage?"

After the Chunin Exams

"At least, that's what I would say if I was actually Anko. Unfortunately, my true name is Orochimaru..." Anko licked her lips. "And I have come to destroy both Konoha and the Soul Society."

Before the Chunin Exams

The Third Hokage retorted, "Bankai? Hah! Your father didn't need such a godlike power. He only utilized his Shikai!"

Now

One of the slumped over bodies twitched. It took all of Kakashi's strength just to open his eye. What is with this genjutsu?! It's powerful enough to incapacitate a jonin level ninja...

Kakashi looked around.

Both Sakura and Naruto had been knocked out cold, along with all the other participants.

Bodies were strewn everywhere, propped up against walls and ledges. A low sound reverberated throughout Kakashi's being. He leaned forward, ears straining for any further clues that might point to what was happening. The sound grew softer. It's almost as if it's...behind me...

As he thought that, the snores stopped and the orange haired boy Kakashi had collapsed onto woke up, pushing Kakashi off himself. The Mirror Ninja landed on his back.

He looked and saw the transfer student stretch, bones creaking and cracking, like a well-oiled machine raring to go.

Kakashi looked on, his mouth wide open. How can he move? This genjutsu was cast by one of the legendary three, Orochimaru, heralded as a genius and the strongest ninja aside from Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the Kages.

"Oi, Ichigo."

What is it? I'm kind of tired from my fight with Neji."

The raspy voice snorted. "You didn't even try against him. What are you talking about...? Let me fight Orochimaru."

Ichigo yawned, his calloused hand covering his mouth. "Who the hell is that?"

"The guy who wants to destroy the Soul Society."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, and his reiatsu seeped out, cracking the concrete floor.

Kakashi could only watch in awe. He's crazy...he talks to himself and wants to fight Orochimaru? What an idiot. But what's up with his chakra...it's so rough and heavy...A boom of thunder interrupted Kakashi's thoughts.

Bright orange hair stood on end, crackling with static electricity. Clouds swelled and undulated like a unrelenting sea of power, before gathering around Ichigo and solidifying into pure reiatsu. It pulsed out in short, commanding bursts of energy.

The waves of reiatsu broke pieces of the wall off, and they fell, shattering upon contact with the cold floor.

Orochimaru could feel the sudden surge of dominant chakra.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!" Orochimaru bellowed, "What's wrong? Are you mad because you can't find this?" Orochimaru brandished a yellow plushy. It had whiskers drawn onto its face and a fake mane of 'hair.'

Kon dangled from Orochimaru's hand.

Kakashi looked at Ichigo's face, trying to gauge his reaction as he nudged the eyepatch off.

Then Ichigo disappeared.

Kakashi blinked. It's not that the sharingan wasn't activated, and that's why I couldn't see him. He was just so fast that his movements didn't register! Kakashi started. Wait. Since when was that entire section of wall missing?

Ichigo was behind Orochimaru in a blink of an eye. "Are you the one...who said you would destroy the Soul Society?! And why do you seem to think I can't fight without my soul reaper powers? Who told you about them?"

"You talk too much!" Orochimaru whirled around, snakes whipping in a flash. Ichigo took the brunt of the attack with the wall he ripped out of the stands, then smashed the rest into Orochimaru.

Orochimaru skipped across the stadium like a rock, blood peppering the ground with every bound as his body careened around the field.

Kakashi got to his feet at the sound of Orochimaru crashing into a wall, peering through the broken wall towards the scene below.

Ichigo picked up Kon.

He brushed the dust off the plushy and poked it to wake Kon up.

Only to have his face punched in by Orochimaru. Ichigo rebounded downwards, buried into the ground by the force of Orochimaru's physical strength.

Orochimaru smiled, even as half of his face peeled off as if it was a bad case of sun tan. The splotches of dried blood on his face hinted otherwise. Another face lay underneath Orochimaru's current one, which uttered the words, "I was told by the same person who sent you...but I'm sorry. I won't let you obtain your goal."

Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke all woke up.

The Third Hokage had been observing wordlessly throughout Ichigo's confrontation of Orochimaru. The three kunai held at his throat stalled him in one place.

Orochimaru walked over to Sarutobi. His arm reared back as if to strike.

Sasuke dropped down from the stands, then bolted towards the Hokage, almost stepping onto a fallen Ichigo in the process. He caught Orochimaru's arm in a hold, and his chakra formed around his feet, attaching him to the ground. Orochimaru lifted him, breaking Sasuke's hold on his own chakra, and threw him up in the air.

Sasuke landed, spitting blood before blacking out.

The legendary ninja, master of snakes, grabbed the Hokage again and prepared his snakes to feed.

Just as their fangs bit into Sarutobi's skin, Neji and Naruto both landed on either side of Orochimaru, landing kicks on his sides. His body bruised, Orochimaru angled his body away, avoiding a further barrage, then jumped up, completely dodging the attacks that followed.

As he came down, his sandal-covered feet busted their heads. Both fell, eyes staring off into nothing.

"You are a monster," Ichigo said as he revived, dirt and pieces of the ground falling off him and drifting to the ground like snowflakes.

Orochimaru laughed without looking back. "You aren't even better than Naruto. At least that trash has the Nine Tails...what do you have?"

A surge in reiatsu darkened the entire stadium. Kakashi felt goosebumps rise up on his skin.

"I may not have much now. But when someone treats people I've fought like they amount to nothing...I just can't sit around twiddling my thumbs."

"Don't unleash it unless you believe you are in danger of dying. And even then, control its power. Don't kill anyone, you upstart, or I swear, I will make you regret it Ichigo. I don't know if you noticed, but your bankai has potential. It has the potential to rule over all other powers in speed, in agility, in strength. When I fought your father he easily beat me."

Ichigo: "Is bankai really so strong?"

Hokage: "Bankai? Hah! Your father didn't need such a godlike power. He only utilized his Shikai."

Energy spiraled around him, pulsing.

Ichigo was clad in a black robe with a red rope corded around his sturdy chest, and his forearms strained with the weight of the five foot long black-and-white zanpakuto he held.

A ribbon curled off it. The pulsing of the reiatsu increased steadily, until it was beating as fast as a nervous heart. The ribbon wrapped around Ichigo.

The steam flowed outward, blowing the hair of the unconscious Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji. Orochimaru's took a step forward to steady his shivering body. The pure power Ichigo was emitting was overwhelming.

Then the words came: "Ban...Kai!"