The Redhead Who Was Supposed to Kill a God?
"Hey there! Remember me?"
The guy in question, whose attention was divided between the ongoing battle and herself, gave Sakura a quick, sharp glance. "Yeah."
"Did you kill any gods yet?"
"Not now!" Kurosaki Ichigo replied tersely, parrying a blow from his unseen adversary.
"Ah, no? I think today's the day, then."
"Who are you?" Kurosaki's voice was clipped, his focus clearly elsewhere.
"You can call me Sakura — It's my name, actually." She grinned. "We're friends. Believe it."
She moved away from him, zooming at high speeds towards Sasuke's powerful chakra signature. Kurosaki clearly had the situation handled — he was fighting some skinny guy who seemed to be using poison.
Toward Sasuke, who began to gather natural energy, his presence commanding.
"The newcomer!" A Shinigami nearby shouted in alarm. "He's absorbing Reishi — they are Quincy after all!"
This accusation stirred a tumult among the Shinigami, swords drawn in hostility.
Sasuke glared at her, almost waiting for her to say... anything. "What would you have me do?"
"Thanks, Sasuke." Sakura said, dryly.
KINGS OF HEAVEN
An elongated blade crashed against Toru's Susanoo with a resounding impact.
Then it retracted swiftly.
That was his opponent's power, apparently. His Rinne-Sharingan saw it happen, and he also noted how fast the shrinking was.
"Kamishini no Yari." Ichimaru declared, his voice as unsettling as the unchanging grin on his face. "Dance."
Toru groaned. "Don't tell me this magic sword has more abilities—"
The blade elongated again. Then it retracted, just as fast.
They didn't have this sort of thing at home, and it was more than time for Naruto to catch up to this world.
Toru let his Susanoo fade, because it just made him a gigantic target — which the same guy might have warned him about a time or a hundred. Weaving in and around the other guy, Aizen's spells, was already enough of a pain. An arc of lightning exploded where he had been, just a moment ago.
Absorbing the spells wasn't such a great idea either, it turned out, as there was something a bit unbalanced about the energies that made up this place, when compared with chakra.
In the middle of his observations, Toru ducked under the sword's extremely long-range sweep.
Compared to the speed at which it shortened or lengthened…
"…Ah!" Toru said. "I think I got it. The danger about your sword's ability isn't its length, although you definitely tried to get me to focus on that part. No, what's dangerous about it is the speed at which it extends or retracts."
The last traces of amusement faded from Gin's face. Toru remembered not to warn him next time, and hoped he wouldn't forget.
"Dance of Blades." Ichimaru Gin called without any more preamble
It felt and looked like a thousand blades coming at Toru. But it was only the same single one, elongating, retracting extremely fast. Kinda pretty, in the same way that likely drew moths to a flame.
Toru summoned his Susanoo again, wordlessly. It bloomed around him like a deadly flower of teal light.
The blade slammed into the spectral giant's arbor over and over again, until…
'Ah shit. It's cracking.'
Aizen's voice finally came through. "Hadō 90. Black Coffin."
Darkness suddenly surrounded Toru. Something pierced his Susanoo's shell and penetrated his gut. He reinforced his body with chakra to avoid getting cut in two and poured more of the same energy into his Susanoo.
It grew, teal light turning into ash white, and broke the cube of darkness as it did. The Susanoo lifted a hand toward the heavens, and a spear exploded into life within its palm.
Toru slammed it down.
A plume of white fire consumed the entire area.
When the raging inferno receded back into the spear, Toru let the Susanoo fade away. He walked toward the two charred bodies on the floor, reaching out with his senses first...
Aizen was dead already, it seemed. And Gin…
"Creepy." The man said.
Toru blinked. "What was that?"
"I said…"
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu." Another voice called out.
Toru spat something that had pooled into his mouth. "…What?"
There was something in his chest, something that made it hard to breathe. It felt both cold and burning at the same time, and he coughed again. Blood.
"I've already pierced your Saketsu and your Hakusui." Aizen said impassibly, from behind him. "This battle is over."
Toru's voice, choked with blood, barely whispered, "Saketsu? What is that—" His words ended abruptly as Aizen's sword slid out, a ruthless withdrawal. Staggering, Toru collapsed, his life ebbing away.
"You were nothing but a decent warmup for today's operations." Aizen said to the dying man with cold indifference, flicking the blood from his blade in a swift motion. "Rest now."
Toru's eyes dimmed fast.
"…Ah." He breathed out. "Mother... Father..."
Everything grew large and larger, then small and smaller, then large again—
And then, nothing.
Beside them, Ichimaru Gin made a sound tinged with slight relief. "Yeah, that..." He paused, searching for words. "...Was one creepy guy."
Aizen remained silent. The man was dead, his every senses told him as much—
Something felt wrong.
"Gin!" He called out.
But all Gin saw were cold red eyes, and the hiss of a sword cleaving the air. With a desperate backpedal, he evaded a fatal strike, but the blade still tore into his chest, leaving a searing trail from shoulder to hip.
Gasping, Gin pressed a hand against the wound. "See?" He rasped out, pain lacing his voice.
Aizen stared at Toru, eyes narrowed in calculation. "Illusions." He said. "You fight using illusions."
"No." Toru denied. "My power is simpler than that. I can bring myself back to life even if I die, using fire remnants—"
"Lies." Aizen interrupted, a single eyebrow arching. "Transparent lies, even, and easily seen through. Lies, which are what I would expect from an illusionist."
There was something almost fond in his tone.
Toru exhaled, a resigned chuckle escaping him. "Yeah, you caught me. But, you know..."
His voice trailed off as, with a sudden burst, a clone of his erupted from the debris, lunging at Gin. Gin's sword shimmered, striking thrice in quick succession, halting the clone's advance.
"Ah, well." Toru said.
"I am an illusionist myself." Aizen began. "There is one thing, however…"
With a swift leap back, Toru formed a Tiger seal, his chakra igniting with intensity.
"Uchiha Clan Hidden Art: Blossoming Flower of Ruin!"
"…What made you think that I would stop at one layer of deception?" Aizen finished.
Toru froze. "You mean to say—"
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
Toru slowed down to blink when the world fell apart around him. What had he been doing…?
A sword slammed through his chest—
Toru exploded in a burst of fire, searing Aizen's hands in spite of his hastily erected barrier of water.
Toru leaped out of the rubble and fell like a shadow upon Gin, who he had decided was the weaker one of the two. There was something, close to the edge of his awareness—
His blade rose in time to meet Aizen's, but barely. And then they were pushing, grinding steel against steel with sudden ferocity.
"So you do know how to use a sword?" Toru grinned darkly. "I was wondering—"
Aizen pointed a finger at him.
Toru threw himself to the floor, and a flash of bright light reduced a building behind him to nothing the next instant. He slashed low, aiming for Aizen's heels. The man jumped over him—
Toru threw a wild uppercut and Aizen decided to counter his fist with a sword slash that would split his arm in two.
"Got you!" Toru roared. Teal chakra extended from his arm and the Susanoo's fist shimmed into life, seizing Aizen suddenly. "No more tricks!"
He hadn't shown a partial Susanoo release before, nor its full manifestation speed, and it would be the last of this fight. He seized the other man's chakra, if it could be called that, and he pulled—
"Bankai." Aizen intoned. "Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu: Gen'ei Zōfuku."
"Hachiman." Toru called under his breath. "Now, what the fuck—"
The next instant, a sword strike went through Toru's brain.
He woke up in a limbo of sorts, where a large blond man was waiting for him.
"Oh, are you fucking kidding me—"
"So, Toru, how was the king of illusions?" Uzumaki Naruto asked.
"Man, he was fucking strong!" Toru said, sighing. "Plus he didn't even go all out! I'm not sure if I could've beaten him even if he didn't have his illusions."
"Whoa. He's so strong that he made you admit that?"
"Yeah." Toru nodded. "I do feel a bit sorry for him though." He said with a wistful smile. "I was able to feel his sword in battle. I only felt loneliness coming from his. Maybe he was looking for someone who could empathize with him. I wanted to convey everything to Aizen. I wanted him to know. But…"
Toru smiled softly.
"It was fun."
Something's wrong.
He blinked.
"Are you ready to go?"
Something's wrong.
Why was he seeing things from the other man's perspective…? No. He was not this man named Toru. He was Aizen Sōsuke.
He was Aizen Sōsuke.
It had seemed all too natural — but those had not been his thoughts. And he did not know who Uzumaki Naruto even was.
Aizen snapped out of the illusion.
The next instant, he ducked. A short blade sliced through the top of his hair.
"I see." Aizen said, as he parried another sharp two-handed blow. "You had already cast another illusion just before I did."
Already, Toru was slowing down, seemingly confused. "What the fuck is going on?" He slurred. "Where…? What…?"
"You seem perplexed by the nature of my Bankai. Allow me to elucidate." Aizen began, his eyes narrowing slightly as he observed the utter incomprehension taking root in his opponent's eyes.
And an inkling of fear, as well. As it should be.
"Why…?"
"It's quite simple. This Bankai's first step amplifies the fundamental principle of Kyōka Suigetsu — complete hypnosis — but transcends far beyond mere sensory manipulation. You see, Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu targets the subconscious, the very core of perception and reality."
Aizen took a step forward. "Within a radius of two hundred meters, anyone who has ever been exposed to my Shikai, even once, becomes ensnared in an inescapable web. It doesn't just deceive the senses; it reverses the subconscious, turning it against itself."
Aizen's expression turned contemplative. "I wished to spare Gin that." He said softly. "But perhaps he still lives, deep within himself." Then, he pulled his sword out of Toru. "The subconscious mind is a powerful entity, constantly absorbing, constantly influencing. Under the spell of Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu, this inner world turns on you. Every thought, every fear, every hidden desire becomes a tool for paralysis."
He paused, letting the gravity of his words sink in properly. "In this state, you are immobilized, not by chains or physical barriers, but by the confines of your own psyche. You become a spectator of a reality crafted by your deepest subconscious, unable to distinguish the illusion from truth, unable to move, unable to escape."
"…Why?"
Aizen smiled, a chilling, knowing smile. "It's an elegant art, don't you think? As a fellow illusion weaver… Do you not admire this beautiful, terrifying dance of the mind — Oh…? Are you still able to speak?"
Toru continued to slur his words. "Why… the fuck are you explaining your ability?!"
The words reached Aizen after the sword which went through his gut, from behind him. And then the Toru in front of him disappeared.
The Aizen that had been stabbed disappeared too.
'Impressive.' Aizen could not help it: a small grin was beginning to stretch his lips.
"Subconscious meddling?" Toru muttered, and he did seem a bit out of it. "You… probably should not have done that."
"Oh, no…?" Aizen asked, amusedly. "And why is that?"
"Are you for real?" Toru grunted. "Don't you remember the mirror?"
Aizen let out a derisive chuckle. "Now, what are you…"
Aizen remembered it all.
Once, he had met a woman who captivated him completely, the only one to make his heart flutter. After months of pursuit, he won her affection. They married within two years, and soon they welcomed a daughter into their lives.
Life seemed good, almost perfect. He was rising fast through the ranks of the Shinigami, and his wife stayed home to care for their children. Their family grew with the arrival of a son, who became his pride and joy. Every morning, he would lovingly visit his son's room before heading to work.
One strange day, Aizen noticed something peculiar about the mirror in their house.
His reflection seemed strangely distorted, maintaining its three-dimensional form but appearing fundamentally incorrect in some unexplainable way.
This anomaly soon consumed Aizen. He spent countless hours, then days, fixated on the mirror, neglecting his responsibilities, food, and even his basic needs. His physical and mental health began to deteriorate as he became wholly absorbed in the mystery of his reflection.
After three days of intense obsession, his wife, deeply concerned, sought help. In his state of confusion and obsession, Aizen had a startling revelation: the mirror, his home, his wife, his children, even the past decade of his life — none of it was real.
In the midst of this epiphany, the mirror appeared to change shape, expanding and deepening, filling his entire field of vision with a pervasive red hue.
Then he snapped out of it. He never had a family, of course.
He heard voices, screams, and felt engulfed by an overwhelming pain.
The illusion broke.
"Uchiha Clan Hidden Art: Blossoming Flower of Ruin!"
True to the jutsu's name, a monstrous flower unfurled, engulfing everything in its path with searing blue flames. Including Gin, who apparently was still alive. Had Aizen's Bankai not been triggered at all, then?
Quick to react, Aizen enveloped himself in a protective sphere using Kidō 64: Water Orb Barrier.
Then the barrier began to hiss and steam under the inferno's assault.
"Rise from the depths, guardian of purity." Aizen began chanting, something he rarely bothered with, preparing to cast the very same spell again. "Encircle, enfold, engulf. Barrier of the tranquil depths, Water Orb Barrier!"
At that moment, the massive Susanoo re-emerged, its lance striking the ground with such force that the blue flames were dispelled, clearing the battlefield.
Toru, realizing his fiery assault only complicated his own movements, sighed in resignation. His Susanoo walked behind him, on its own. "Right. Why did I think fire would do anything for me…?"
"I am surprised you even bothered with such tactics." Aizen remarked, a hint of reluctant admiration in his voice for the strength of Toru's illusions. To make him believe he was in the true world — as relative of a concept as that was.
"Bad habit." Toru muttered, blinking confusion away. "How did you like the illusion?"
"It was horrible." Aizen smiled a true smile, this time. "When did you ensnare me in it?" He inquired, his curiosity piqued.
"Right before you did, I'd say." Toru replied vaguely.
Beside Aizen, Gin's usual pallor seemed to have deepened, his face taking on a nauseous hue. It was possible that he, too, had been caught in the web of an illusion.
"Cap'n Aizen, if ya don't mind…" Gin began, his voice unsteady, a stark contrast to his usual calm demeanor. "I… think I will sit this one out."
Aizen glanced at Gin. It was rare for him to openly acknowledge his limits, let alone step back from a fight.
"Understood." Aizen responded with a nod. He turned his attention back to Toru, ready to engage once more.
Toru blurred forward.
Toru's short sword only met Kyōka Suigetsu's metal. Toru flipped over Aizen, summoning flame to his hand as he did. He threw the fireball at the other man's feet, where it detonated.
Aizen's hand rose out of the flames to grab the back of Toru's elbow, slamming him into the floor to stab him.
Gin exploded.
Aizen leaped high in the air to avoid getting caught in the blast. Toru's Susanoo appeared above him and the massive sword hurtled toward him—
"Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu." Aizen called out. "Jōsui Kaiju."
Aizen broke the illusion.
Toru's eyes were wide open. "A dispel, too?! No fucking way—"
Aizen's blade, swift and precise, pierced right through the other man's heart. Disbelief etched itself on Toru's face, in a raw display of vulnerability.
"Now…" Aizen began evenly. "What was it that you meant to say, before? That I should… not have done that, perhaps?" He asked with a confident smile. "And why not?"
Toru coughed blood. "Because…"
With his last ounce of strength, Toru lifted his blood-stained fingers, weakly pointing to his right. Aizen chanced a glance there—
Toru came barreling from the left, of course. He ran Aizen through when the clone he had hidden in the false corpse's shadow missed its attack.
"…I was weaving illusions of my own!" Toru grunted. "What do you think is going to happen to us if I can't keep track of them? — Gah!"
The illusion broke.
And Toru suddenly found himself impaled. The same cage of darkness as the one from before had appeared.
The illusion broke.
"…That won't matter." Aizen said with bold certainty. "Because I ensnared you before you did."
Aizen shattered the illusion that bound them.
"Wrong!" Toru grunted. "Look where you are."
Aizen was sitting in Chair-kun, and had never left it, in fact. Now he never would see Akemi again. But that wasn't even his chair, nor his lover—
The illusion broke.
"It's not stealing if I give it back, right...?" Toru asked.
"Is your sanity slipping, now?" Aizen countered.
"Ha!" Toru grinned savagely. "What of your own?!"
"What nonsense are you talking about now?"
Soul Society's highest tower fell down on him in a terrible crash. Aizen dragged himself out of the rubble, and dust filled his lungs—
The illusion broke.
An electric shock woke Toru as the medics forced his heart to beat again. "Hang on! For the love of all that's good, hang on!"
"We're losing him!—"
The illusion broke.
"Are you lost, little boy?" A gentle woman asked Aizen, bending down to meet his eyes. Aizen shook his head timidly.
"I'm not a little boy!" Toru roared "Is that a way to address a woman, huh?!"
"What is this…?" Aizen asked slowly. "Are we… spiraling down through your subconscious mind?"
"What's a subconscious mind, sensei?" Toru asked, smiling shyly. Behind him, his classmates were laughing. "I didn't read that part, yet."
The illusion broke.
Uzumaki Naruto appeared in a comet of blue light, asking where the woman in question was so that he could add her to his—
The illusion broke.
Water splashed Aizen's face. "Now you've done it!" He said, laughing. Then he began splashing Toru back, playfully.
"No." Aizen grunted.
The illusion broke.
"There's nothing like Okinawa, is there, Sōsuke?" Toru asked, lounging back in a beach chair, drink in hand. His floral patterned shirt reminded Aizen of something…
The illusion broke—
"I don't really like whisky." Aizen told the woman he was sitting next to, in a smoke-filled bar. "I rarely drink, in fact."
The illusion—
The plane began falling down.
The—
"I can't quite remember being kidnapped." Toru shook his head. "They came for my mother first…"
A blade slammed through his back.
He turned around toward his little brother, screaming. "Sōsuke! How many times did I tell you not to hit me this hard?!"
"I can't help it." Aizen shook his head. "I want to be the greatest seamstress this world has known." He glanced up to the stars.
Then he made a fist. "And then I'm going to become the pirate king!"
"A cave?" Toru moaned. "I'm in a cave again? What did I join the war effort for if I'm back to my parents' house…?"
Help
"Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu." Aizen called, eyes burning with the strength of the Mangekyō. This was spiraling out of his control, fast, too fast. "Gekkō Waikyoku—"
"Slow down, girl." Toru said, laughing, because this was spiraling out of Aizen's control, fast, too fast. Toru called out his Zanpakuto's ultimate form. "Bankai. Zetsubō to Kibō no Kōkyōkyoku, Genjitsu to Gensō no Kyōkai de Eien ni Mai, Yami no Hateshinai Umi ni Ukabu Hikari to Kage no Mugen no Rensa wo Ayatsuru."
Help
Aizen smiled at their audience.
"Did you have a fun time watching our cartoon? You did…?" Aizen asked, with a soft smile. "Oh. That's… that's more than we hoped for. We put a lot of thought into it."
Help
"Mugen Jigen Mugen Hansha Eien Gen'ei Tsukuyomi is a world of my creation, my unique power. In it, I control everything." Toru said, crossing his arms in a show of superiority. "You should never have underestimated the power of the Hyūga clan."
"This is not a blade!" Aizen roared. "This is my soul — No! This is our team spirit! Final move… Rainboooow Arc!"
Someone began clapping. Then, another person. And more, so many of them… "Congratulations!"
"No." Aizen said, shaking his head. "It's you that I must thank — Thank you!"
"But…" Toru finished his cigarette. "I'll never get the reports done before Monday. Why am I expected to work on my time off, even…? No one works on Tuesdays."
"Don't cry because it happened. Cry because it's gone gone gone gone." Aizen said, smiling. "You're going to spoil the mood."
Toru smiled. "I don't want it to end, either. You're my best friend, Sōsuke. Always have been."
"Think Toru's winning?" Sakura asked Sasuke. "My clone just sent me an update. The three of them haven't moved in a while."
Sasuke nodded calmly. "That's just how most Genjutsu battles tend to go."
"Don't you think I know that — Should I cut the others' heads off while they're distracted?" Sakura offered.
"...Probably not this time." Sasuke said. "You never know how deep Toru's in. But don't worry." He added reassuringly. "He's extremely good at this."
"Oh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. You know what I read on his lips, right before he set the layers of barriers around them?"
Sasuke hadn't. "…No." He had his suspicions, though.
"'Fuck it, we brawl.'"
Sasuke pursed his lips. He was about to say something in answer when lightning crashed near him.
It illuminated the sky with a flash of dangerous energy.
From the storm emerged four figures, their white uniforms marking them as foes.
Sakura's eyes narrowed, a frown etching her features. "…And who the fuck are you guys?"
The one with green hair flashed a predatory grin, her eyes gleaming with malice. "I'm Candice Catnip!" She declared. "And your time ends now—"
Sakura turned to Sasuke. "...Since when does fodder have names?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Ever since Naruto got on Team Six, I suppose."
The other woman roared the name or her attack. "Galvano Blast!"
It happened in a blink. Lightning struck Sakura, and the rubble she was standing on evaporated.
But it did nothing to her.
"…For real?" She asked Sasuke in slight amusement. "Is that it?"
Sasuke shrugged again. "What do you want me to say—"
"Burner Finger: Three!"
A wave of fire surged from the top of a building. The firestorm swept towards them with relentless fury.
And stopped right around Sasuke, as though it had hit an invisible wall.
"See?" Sakura asked, grinning. "The newcomer was nice enough to even offer you flames."
Try as he might, Sasuke couldn't help a small, amused smile from growing upon his lips. "Very kind of them."
He raised a hand.
"Kōjin. Kajin."
…
Candice Catnip saw a pillar of flame.
She barely managed to turn into lightning before everything was turned to nothing. The raging inferno swelled up and dispelled over a few seconds.
'By the Almighty's name.'
The searing intensity of the flames reminded her of Yamamoto, the formidable former Captain Commander of Soul Society, whose fire was legendary in its fury. Whether these flames matched his in heat, she couldn't be certain. The aftermath was unmistakably similar, however — total annihilation.
Meninas. Gone.
Lilotto. Gone.
Giselle. Gone.
PePe. Robert. NaNaNa. Gone.
Even Bazz-B and his flames — the ones that he had summoned.
All that was left of them were white spots in her vision—
"Ah, you can become thunder, then?" The pink-haired woman asked, seemingly uninterested. "Can you also bring gods to their knees?"
Candice thought about attacking the equally intangible woman.
But she turned tail and fled.
"Nah." Pink said. "That's not the spirit."
Candice thought she heard a whirring sound—
…
"A job well done, if I may so." Sakura said, dusting imaginary dust off herself — it never landed in the first place.
Sasuke's eyes were turned higher up, toward the heavens.
"You feel it too?" He asked.
She did.
"Did a god just die, up there?" Sakura asked.
"…Probably not." Sasuke said slowly.
"Well, the barrier around that place definitely fell." Sakura said, turning entirely serious. They had squabbled but really hadn't been wasting time. "Let's pick up Toru and go."
"I was about to ask."
"Actually, scratch that — let's just go and see what's happening first."
Sasuke grunted. "You just love to disagree, don't you?"
Aizen Sōsuke managed to break free of the illusion, thanks to his Bankai.
He then promptly threw up.
Across him, Uchiha Toru did the same. "No more." He said, wiping his mouth.
"Agreed." Aizen muttered, slowly standing up. "This isn't worth it." And he had trouble separating his own emotions from the other man's. "Shinsei Kyoka Suigetsu: Ryūsui no Tsurugi."
The world seemed to shatter in pieces around his blade, coming alive with the fluidity of a rushing river. The sword itself, sleek and iridescent, moved like water in his grasp. An edge glinting with deadly precision.
Aizen swung the Ryūsui no Tsurugi, and it cut through the air with the ease of a stream carving its path.
Toru groaned.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He asked in frustration. "How many forms does it have? Is this another illusion?"
Aizen just smiled grimly.
"Draw your blade. As an illusion specialist, I know your weakness." Aizen said. "Close quarters combat—"
Something slammed into his face, and he thought his neck had snapped. He slowly stood up again, and his face felt entirely too raw.
"It's kinda my specialty, actually. After the two others." Toru called out. "Uchiha Hidden Art: Blazing Fists of Courage!"
Aizen hissed in disbelief. "You would put your sword away, you lunatic?"
"Yup —Those are not lions, by the way!"
"What does it have to—"
The next instant, Aizen was parrying a flurry of fire-enhanced punches. Each of them struck with the strength of a raging blaze, forcing him to retreat step by step.
And… it was strange.
It seemed as though the man could read his movements.
Despite the ferocity of the attack, Aizen's movements remained fluid, composed, his sword an extension of his will. Like a jet of water cutting through stone, he struck back.
And then suddenly found himself more sluggish.
On the other hand, Uchiha Toru seemed to move faster.
Knuckles buried themselves into Aizen's face, and he felt teeth give just as his cheek became a mess of burned flesh—
"Uchiha Hidden Art: Sudden Susanoo Sword Irruption."
A sword of teal Reiryoku (or perhaps Reishi) formed into his mouth and went through Aizen's other cheek. He only managed to prevent it from slicing his head off by biting down firmly.
Aizen countered by a fierce sword slash, drawing razor-thin blades of water with it. His movements, usually swift and fluid, grew even heavier.
Why was he so damn slow?
Uchiha Toru reappeared behind him in a mad dash that sent him sliding along the floor. He made a vertical motion with his hand.
Gravity tripled — or perhaps more. It sent Aizen crashing to the ground, the impact violently expelling the air from his lungs. He grunted, a sharp pain shooting through his neck, signaling something was terribly wrong. The imbalance in their speeds was costing him dearly—
"You're stealing my speed." He finally said, growling in realization.
Toru only grinned savagely in answer. He opened his hand, drew it back and made a fist.
Aizen was suddenly pulled away from the floor, like a ragdoll, and into Toru's expecting arms.
And into a rising kick that showcased surprising flexibility.
"—Kidō: Tenryū no Hoko!"
With a grunt, Toru dodged the spectral dragon that rose from Aizen's hand.
"Your eyes." Aizen said. "Your power comes from your eyes—"
"Wrong. I generate power from my legs!" The other man corrected.
Aizen's expression contorted with frustration. "One of your abilities allows for accelerated movement, but only in a straight line." He stated firmly. "And the other…. it siphons my speed, augmenting your own."
Toru let out a dismissive chuckle. "Ridiculous. A power that steals... speed? That's just not possible." He shook his head. "I'm just that fast naturally. My relatives and I just happen to have red eyes. Nothing more, nothing less."
Aizen's lips curved into a knowing smile. "Continue to deny it, if you must. It changes nothing." He inhaled deeply, his voice taking on a menacing tone. "I will start by destroying your eyes. Then your fists. I'll crush your lungs, rendering your fire breath useless. And finally, those legs you're so proud of."
Toru raised an eyebrow. "If you insist."
But instead of making any move to attack, he folded his arms.
('That should be about five minutes. Hachiman should be over.' )
"My next attack will end this." Aizen declared, his voice a low rumble. "Behold the true might of Shinsei Kyōka Suigetsu…"
"More illusions, after all?" Toru interjected, arms still crossed. "Go ahead, then."
"Gen'ei Zōfuku."
With intense concentration, Aizen summoned his spiritual energy, channeling it into the most intricate and potent illusions he could muster. This was to be the decisive blow, a grand display of power, one to carve open his path to victory.
But nothing happened.
A heavy silence fell, only to be broken by Aizen's second, futile attempt.
"You seem like you want to say something." Toru observed, his tone relaxed. "Is something wrong?"
Aizen's eyes narrowed, a mixture of disbelief and fury simmering within.
"Your fancy 'Bankai' is gone." Toru said. "It's a pretty powerful thing, I'll admit."
Aizen's glare intensified, venomous and cold. Without his Bankai, it was going to be hard... if not impossible to oppose the other man.
"It's not stealing if I intend to give it back in a moment, right?" Toru asked. "Once you're defeated, that is." He smiled a mirthless smile. "Sorry, by the way, but…"
His gaze locked with Aizen's, unyielding, sharp, and dreadfully serious.
"I have no intention of explaining how my power works."
The tall, muscular man wearing a winged helmet roared as he dashed forward.
But Senjumaru Shutara's thoughts were on the Soul King. Yhwach had gone ahead, and was currently fighting Ichibē. They were His last line of defense, and His protection was their Royal duty.
"That's right!" The tall invader roared, his voice echoing across the heavens they stood upon. "My name is Gerard Valkyrie. Worthless foes shall fall by my hand!"
His weapon, a colossal blade, tore through the air, aiming to shatter Shutara's defense.
And that, it did.
"A woman's slender arm…" He shouted. "Cannot stop my sword— Guh."
His taunt was abruptly cut short, not by a counterstrike, as it couldn't be called that, but by a gruesome end. A pale-haired, winged, and horned woman materialized overhead. Monstrous and imposing, she had effortlessly severed his head from his body with a swift, uncanny motion that made the air ripple strangely around her hand.
"Why should I dignify such drivel?" Her voice, low and metallic, hung in the air like a discordant chime.
Gerard's demise was instantaneous, marked only by the fall of a small cross.
"Hmm? Weren't you supposed to be all mighty and powerful? Needed a moment to warm up to reach for you powers, did we?" She mused aloud, crushing the cross beneath her foot. The remains vanished without a trace. "Pathetic."
Shutara, still processing the scene, found her voice. "...What in the world are you?"
The other woman met her gaze, an unreadable expression on her face. " "This little transformation? Oh, it's just a bit of fun." She cooed, her wings unfurling with a languid stretch.
"I asked who you are!" Shutara demanded, her voice sharp with urgency. "How did you breach this place?"
"That's not what you said. And you are terribly rude." The reply was curt, dismissive. And a fury that could shatter worlds simmered underneath. Shutara felt a chill crawl up her spine. "But I'm here to help. Take it or leave it."
Without another word, the winged woman turned away, her attention already shifting to another Sternritter. It was a man, boasting the ability to pierce through anything.
Perhaps it was unfortunate for him that the newcomer seemed entirely intangible, Senjumaru Shutara thought.
But perhaps that was bad for all of them.
The strongest illusion he could manage, a fiery sword strike to the gut... and Toru sealed the man away for the time being.
Sasuke's clone penetrated the barrier Toru had erected around Aizen, Gin and himself.
"You were pretty good, Aizen Sōsuke." Toru muttered. "I'll never forget you, king of illusions—"
"…Toru?" Sasuke asked. "What the fuck are you saying...? Do I need to slap you awake?"
Toru blinked for a little while. "Nah, no need."
Sasuke glanced at the two small stones. "…Are they fully sealed?"
"Yes. I'm not sure whether they even realized when the illusion actually started." Toru said, shaking his head. Then, he shook his head. "…Hey, you're real real this time, right?"
"I'd say so." Sasuke nodded. "As much as ever, at least."
Toru smiled. "Alright, that's real enough for me." He cracked his neck and stretched. He was feeling a bit out of it. "How did it go for you?"
"…We're not done yet." Sasuke sighed.
"...Really? Alright." Toru nodded. "I'll go and join the real you, then."
"No." Sasuke said.
Toru glared back at him. "What do you mean, no?"
"Handle things down here." Sasuke pointed at the distance, where several strong presences were still looming. We'll be enough."
"Are you my boss, now?" Toru asked, frowning.
"I wouldn't know." Sasuke said, looking him wryly in the eye. "I'm not paying you either, am I?"
Toru snorted.
'My name…" The voice echoed through Sakura's mind. 'Call out my name.'
Sakura frowned at the pieces of the monk-like Shinigami who had managed to get himself torn to shreds by facing that man named Yhwach — or was it Jūha, perhaps?
"Why would I do that?" She asked him. "You stole my kill."
'My name!' The voice insisted. 'Call it.'
"Nah. It's not like your power — which failed — is going to do much to the big bad, anyway." Sakura said, shaking her head. "The briefing told me you were a rightful dick. What was that plan of sacrificing some poor fuck to become the new Soul King, trapped for all eternity in the heavens, again…?"
'…'
"Thought so." Sakura grinned mirthlessly. "If anything, maybe I should finish you while you're weak. Besides, I don't even know your name—"
Kurosaki Ichigo's group came then — in total, they were three men, two women.
"Hyōsube Ichibē." Kurosaki called out.
The other Shinigami rose from black ink.
Sakura groaned. "Oh, come on."
"Farewell, Soul King." Yhwach said, like a melody of triumph. "My father, who has seen the future."
Sasuke understood the scene at once. The Soul King was dead already, by Yhwach's blade. And the man was absorbing him, now.
Without a moment's hesitation, Sasuke unsheathed his blade.
A column of ethereal fire obliterated the palace in a silent, white-hot fury.
As the inferno receded, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. There stood Yhwach, enshrouded in an abyss of shadows, eyes covering them like macabre jewels.
"Too late." Yhwach called out. "How impatient of you. How reckless."
With a mere gesture, the shadows surged forth—
But Sasuke was already moving, a phantom against the darkness.
The next instant, he was awash in an ocean of them, and they were not mere shadows anymore, but a deadly flower of darkness, that had bloomed around his exact position. Some sort of predictive ability, there was no doubt there. Likely linked to the other man's 'eyes.'
His flames wouldn't stop the onslaught, but the encroaching dark did little to quell the fire in his veins.
"Rush to your death, then. I have foreseen it."
As the shadows closed in, Sasuke's mind worked with lightning speed. In the suffocating darkness, he could feel the oppressive weight of the man, no, the new god's power, each shadow bearing down with the force of a mountain.
But arrogant gods were something they were used to dealing with, by now.
With a low murmur, barely audible under the crushing force of the shadows, Sasuke uttered a single word.
" Homusubi."
The air shimmered around him, as if responding to his call. Three small, glowing orbs, previously invisible, ignited in the air around the palace, away from the darkness.
These were anchors he had strategically placed earlier, unseen marks in the fabric of time, now ablaze with ethereal fire.
Fire remnants, used to move backward in time, to the moment Sasuke had invoked them. Something that went beyond death.
Time reversed. Experiencing it was disorienting, as it always was. The world around him began to unravel in a peculiar manner; something entirely unnatural. Events unfolded in reverse order, sights and sounds distorted, and Sasuke stopped breathing.
The familiar became unfamiliar, and every sense was bombarded with a strange, almost surreal quality. The very fabric of reality seems to warp and bend, challenging his mind's ability to comprehend and maintain a sense of coherence. Jarring, to say the least.
Sasuke stood at the center of this storm, his eyes reflecting the flames that danced around him.
One remnant was extinguished.
Sasuke's blade found its mark in Yhwach's skull.
"Too late?" Sasuke's voice cut through the roar of the flames, calm and unwavering. "You claim foresight, but your vision is not absolute, is it?"
Could he only see the fate of his world? Could he not see through other divine domains?
The answer to these questions, Sasuke couldn't find right now. Chakra gathered to his sword. He shaped it into whirling jets, spinning faster and faster…
Fire and Wind buzzed, becoming one single entity, layered and multiplied with itself.
"Blaze Release: Scorching Spiral Edge."
The Blaze Rasengan, coming to life around his blade, swelled up to full size in a fraction of a second. The flames's heat, their danger, didn't matter to him, and made it a technique only he could use up so close. Yhwach, of course, was obliterated.
He reformed in the next instant.
'Predictable.' Sasuke thought with a grimace.
Lances of darkness slammed into Sasuke, pinning him mercilessly. Blood welled up in his throat, dripping past his lips.
"My vision isn't mere foresight." Yhwach declared, a macabre smile playing on his lips. "I sculpt reality. I see your powers, understand them, and I can warp every future they might create."
The gaunt man grinned.
"Go on, defy your fate, if you dare—"
"Homusubi."
With a shimmer, Sasuke reappeared high up in the sky. 'He can't see the remnants. And his power only affects the future.'
Sasuke was fully aware that was pretty bad already, of course.
Dark power rose, painting the world in inky blackness.
"Do you not see the futility?" Yhwach's voice boomed. "You fight the inevitable."
The eyes spread through the blackness, spots of sickly white that seemed to grow with the shadows.
"I am beyond death." Yhwach proclaimed. "I rewrite my demise, again and again."
'This might be problematic.' Sasuke thought.
The darkness was swelling up extremely fast — too fast to dodge.
And as it did, Sasuke took the time to consider his options.
The opponent, no matter who he was, was a tough one, much tougher than expected. Sasuke's last remnant had been placed much further away, for safety's sake.
The other man wasn't aware of his limit of three.
His Blaze Release Rasengan did not have much effect, despite reducing the man to nothing. And that meant more power wasn't the solution. It was just a waste of time.
No, the answer lay in deceiving Yhwach. Likely with an illusion. A tricky thing to do, when the man could see the future. And much depended on how far he could see.
Izanagi…? Izanami?
Either would leave him blind in one eye until he could go back to the Ring. But which one was likely to grant him victory? Which one was less likely to simply be canceled?
Well, either he would need to figure it out really soon, or he would have to gamble.
'Homusubi.'
Sasuke reappeared down on a flat surface, a sky-bound structure, far below the palace he had destroyed.
There, amidst the carnage, stood Sakura, fully transformed, over the ruined body of what Sasuke supposed had been a Quincy. She gave him her usual grin, and there was something slightly chilling about it, in her current state.
"Oh?" She asked, dark and amused. "Are you having troub—"
He had no time for banter. Sasuke propelled himself upward, Susanoo wings unfurling, slicing through the air as he ascended towards the dome of near perfect blackness that was spreading atop the heavens. Tension crackled around him, the atmosphere thick with impending doom — and getting thicker.
Sasuke's hands moved as he soared, flinging out with precise, practiced motions. Chakra, both vibrant and near searing for others, swirled and twisted around him.
From his energy, roots and branches shaped themselves, surged upward at his call, converging into something both magnificent and terrifying. Twisting and writhing as they were consumed by flames that oscillated between white and black, and taking the shape of a colossal dragon.
"Blazing Wood Dragon Technique!"
With a final thrust of power, Sasuke unleashed it. It didn't roar, and if a sound was heard at all, aside from the heat's hiss, it was felt more in the soul. The dragon spiraled upward, a streak of light—
And simply shattered.
Yhwach laughed.
The laughter echoed from afar, a sound of sheer derision. "Futile efforts." He taunted, his distant form clear to Sasuke's Sharingan. "I saw that, too. As well as your combined assault."
Combined — Sakura had thrown herself into the fray, a streak of white light next that rose fast, wings folded behind her, faster than Sasuke himself did.
His Sharingan read her future movements, and Yhwach's eyes did the same, undoubtedly. The future spooled out…
It was likely doomed to fail.
'I got a plan.' Sakura thought, smiling savagely.
''Really now?' Sasuke asked, blood singing. Inwardly, he was surprised she was still able to in a non-threatening manner in this form, today.
'I always hated this kid whose chosen power was to have all powers.'
A startled laugh escaped him.
Sakura shaped up. 'Tell me everything you know about him.'
In spite of her current state of half-madness, he decided to rely on her. Perhaps that made him a fool.
'Everything his eyes can see is in the future?' Sakura finally asked.
'Yes.'
No further words were needed. Not now, not after so much time around each other.
Sasuke slammed both hands together, chakra exploding out of him.
It erupted like a captive sun between his palms.
"I have charted this course!" Yhwach's dark glee was palpable. "Proceed, if you dare!"
Sasuke pushed his chakra through his eyes, straining.
He opened his hands.
The chakra disappeared. A true wave of fire bending reality shimmered into existence, speeding into the distance faster than either he or Sakura could move.
It was like watching an insanely quick explosion, contorting in ways that nature didn't allow.
Of course, as powerful as it was, it was dispelled immediately. Sakura seized the moment, weaving an illusion around Yhwach as it covered her form.
"I see through your deceptions!" Yhwach declared with a scoff.
Sakura disappeared, reappearing with Kamui right next to the man in the sky.
Shards of darkness already awaited her there, stabbing through her, but not reaching because of the impossibly fast cast of her intangibility technique—
Reality warped, and suddenly, the shards reached, as Yhwach made them do so: her technique faltered.
He laughed.
And divine energy suddenly surged from Sakura, repelling the attacks from within. Yhwach's eyes widened.
"Thought so." Sakura grinned. Her hand was swinging, reaching for him—
Yhawach exerted more of his will upon the world. "It doesn't matter." He began to say, as Sakura's intangibility began to fail her once more.
In a defiant burst, Sakura unleashed a colossal dome of water. Something that was seen from below — it erupted around them with overwhelming force, a vast sphere drenching the surroundings in a chakra-laden deluge.
"Irrelevant." Yhwach declared. "I am impervious to harm! To death!"
Sasuke chose this moment to intervene, using divine energy of his own. 'Izanagi!'
Sakura disappeared. She simply vanished, like the sight in Sasuke's left eye.
Yhwach blinked.
'He cannot alter the past, then, nor foresee modifications made to it.'
Sakura reemerged on Yhwach's other side, divine power crackling in her extended hand.
Dark light.
It began to coalesce into a portal.
"It's a godlike ability." Sakura said, grinning savagely. "Unfortunately—"
Yhwach's power began pressing down on hers again, preventing the portal from forming, but not before glimpsing inside.
"A nuisance." He grunted. "Not twice effective—"
He paused, transfixed by the dark void.
"…We can make some use of that, too." Sakura concluded.
"What is this place…?" Yhwach muttered, transfixed. "So many futures, so many — The realm of gods — A breach — Time…? — Oh, I see, Father — I see them all —"
"Kamui!"
One moment, the new Soul King, Yhwach was here. The next, he was simply gone.
Sakura retreated with a swift, calculated bound, every muscle coiled and ready for the unknown, even though her horns receded. Sasuke, one eye clouded and unseeing, blinked, a fruitless effort to sharpen his limited vision.
"…Is he gone?" He asked.
Sakura held her position, her senses on high alert. "I'd say so. But let's wait."
"Stay on your guard then, formation C."
"Whatever you say, boss."
At Sasuke's command, clones flickered into existence, each moving with precision to cover the vulnerabilities of the others, senses fully extended.
But Yhwach wasn't coming.
After five minutes, Sakura began to relax, slowly. She nodded to Sasuke. "Yeah, I think that by now, it should have been decided."
Sasuke felt something like weary realization settle in his gut. "…Where did you send him?"
Sakura glanced at him. "…Well, where do you think?" She shrugged. "To the one place I'm sure he will get fucked up — or even better, they fuck each other up."
Of his arrival into this strange realm, Yhwach recalled little.
What lingered, however, was the abruptness of his descent into the netherworld, a realm where the sky was a void speckled with mocking stars, offering orientation when his own abilities faltered, leaving him blind to all but the relentless roar of thunder.
For uncounted days, he drifted, a lone speck amidst the vast, churning ocean, searching for something that stopped being tangible the moment it would have been within reach — a cruel mockery of fate, once his staunchest ally.
The air was suffocating, thick with the scent of ozone and salt, and the heat was blistering, an invisible inferno licking at his flesh despite the oppressive, ever-dark skies reflected in the obsidian sea. Below him, there was no seabed, only the abyss — endless, hungry, alive with the whispers of those it had devoured.
The water itself seemed to leer at him, shadows moving just beneath its tumultuous surface, forms of unspeakable creatures lurking, lurking, biding their time. Thunder strikes became the laughter of unseen specters, a chorus of the damned.
By the third month, when the boundary between waking and nightmare had blurred into a singular, endless horror, Yhwach believed he had finally found dry soil. Yet, as his feet sought the firmness of ground rather than the endless drift of air or sea, the earth beneath him wailed. That too, turned out to be a figment of his imagination.
The monotony of the crashing waves evolved into a source of horror far surpassing their mere presence. Each wave was a cold, damp reminder of his perpetual entrapment, by the time he surrendered to the futility of escape and Susanoo-Arashi ceased its cruel game.
Then, the sky cracked open, not with light, but with an eye — an all-seeing, all-knowing orb that glared down at him. It seemed to pierce through him, unraveling his soul, thread by thread.
Horror wasn't an event, Yhwach realized; it was the very essence of existence.
Toru raised a weary hand to greet the two others.
"Ah, my most reliable ally — and Sakura." He said.
"Go fuck yourself." Sakura greeted him back. "Everything done here?"
Toru nodded. "I'd say so — Though that Captain in command guy is kinda mad about the Soul Emperor—"
"Soul King." Sasuke said.
"—Soul King dying." Toru nodded gratefully. "Naruto is going to be pissed — and we're going to have to fix this mess. Couldn't you have found a better way...?"
"We didn't kill the previous Soul King." Sakura said. "The guy we got rid of did."
Toru stared at her. "…Yes? What did you think he became when he did that, exactly…?"
"A stain on Susanoo's sword?" Sakura offered.
Toru simply let out a weary sigh. "Whatever. How did it go?"
"It was very underwhelming." Sakura said. "He had the power to do anything, see anything including the future — he kinda overloaded when he saw other worlds though, apparently —, rewrite the present and future… revive himself… stuff like that. Frankly, I would just have left altogether."
"Uh huh." Sasuke said, entirely unimpressed.
"What would you have me do?" Sakura countered, scowling. "He even knew we were coming, apparently."
"So what happened?" Toru asked.
"Sent him away."
Toru frowned. "…Why didn't he see that coming?"
"I just told you—" Sakura sighed, and realized he hadn't been listening. She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he did and thought it was a dream, who knows?"
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i/3OPnpH : 847th Reason Kaguya Doesn't Trust 'Humans'