"Teachings that do not speak of pain have no meaning, for humankind cannot gain anything in return." — Itachi Uchiha.
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They all sped towards the main building in the middle of the compound with the three of them trailing just a step behind a silently furious Itachi.
They passed the main gate before coming to so quick a stop that it looked as if they had always been standing still, so much so that there was no shift in the wind or with their clothes, as before them stood four retainers barring their path.
"Oya? They even came out to welcome us. How noble." Yoruichi's sarcastic sass wasn't missed, nor was it acknowledged. The four poor souls in front of them looked just about as dead as they were trying to be.
"Where is the child?" Ginrei asked, sounding angry, disappointed and fed up while still managing to make it sound calm enough in the way old wise men knew how to.
"The Young Lady is safe, but that will not remain so if you proceed." The leader, a sharp-eyed man with purple hair and the lower half of his face covered with a mask, spoke, not with confidence, but without hesitation. "This is Kasumioji internal matters. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads have no jurisdiction here."
It was plain to see that the four retainers felt no measure of fear as they stood before the four Captains.
The leader, Hanza Nukui, even as he stood before them to carry out his orders, kept his eyes completely focused on the Captain with tattered clothes and extensive burn injuries despite the risk ignoring the other Captains presented.
It was a futile resistance, he knew, but the optics of it mattered little to him and his subordinates. Their orders were to stall the Shinigami for a short while and that was what they intended to do. Banal thoughts like their wellbeing or who the enemy was never crossed their minds. Assassins did not have the luxury of caring for anything other than their orders.
So despite the risks of a premature failure, Hanza did not allow his eyes to leave the only Captain who had arrived with his blade already drawn.
He had felt that unmistakable Reiatsu when the cracks appeared on the barrier and seeing him now the leader of the assassins realized why the plans made provided special reservations for him.
Fighting him was useless; even lesser experienced assassins would arrive at the same conclusion just by seeing the way the air vibrated around him.
All his subordinates had to do was stall the other Captains for a very short time— essentially to try and survive past the first ten seconds.
His mind went through these strings of thoughts in the moments he gave them the only answer he had to give.
He felt the Bakkoto in his hand thrum and without any signal to his subordinates he rushed at the injured Captain – having taken the assumption of his injuries as reduced capability but not depending on it – and immediately commanded the mirror-hilt of his Bakkoto to shatter.
There would be no drawn out fight. Not with these Captains. He and the others understood that.
The Captain remained stationary – absentmindedly staring past them and looking at the building behind them – as the shards of the broken mirror surrounded and shone their light on him, making Hanza suspect for a moment that the figure was a decoy but quickly dismissing the doubt as there was no subtlety to that Reiatsu. The man was angry and had no time for tricks and subterfuge. Good, he could work with that.
The other Captains instantly retreated from the light but Hanza didn't concern himself with their actions. His Bakkoto had the ability to paralyze his targets by reflecting moonlight from the mirror-hilt into their eyes but that was not something he banked on given who stood in front of him. Instead it was the Bakkoto's secondary and most powerful ability to trap the target in an alternate dimension that he employed. A dimension where their consciousness is completely immobilized while also being trapped in a memory-based illusion until their soul is crushed.
The world around them changed as moonlight bathed the Captain and set the ability into effect.
The situation of the other side was a factor he couldn't disregard as the Captains outside could put a stop to what he was doing simply by shattering the outer shell of the dimensional barrier. He pushed everything he had into his Bakkoto while simultaneously resisting its corruption.
He felt the illusion kick in and all that remained was for him to wait down the timer—the Captain finally showed a reaction as his eyes moved in their sockets and flicked down to stare at him.
He wanted to push more of his Reiatsu into the Bakkoto, uncaring for the corruption, but simply found out that he could not as his consciousness was completely immobilized.
That was where his thoughts ended as his consciousness crumpled under the weight of his own abilities being reflected back on him tenfold.
Whether it was because he attacked Itachi's eyes with a sight-based technique or because he had shone moonlight directly into Tsukuyomi's eye, he did not know. How would he have known?
The very second he used his technique on Itachi was the second he died. The very second he had attacked was the same second his subordinates died. Only he knew in his last moments how long that second truly was.
"So much for a noble welcome." Yoruichi scoffed as she flicked away the nonexistent bloodstain from her fingers. The soft click of Byakuya sheathing his sword was the only indication that it had been drawn… that and the three dead bodies behind both noble scions.
Barely ten seconds had passed since their arrival and the best of the Kasumioji's assassins couldn't survive one. Yoruichi was unimpressed. Byakuya openly expressed his disdain. Ginrei, like the old man he was, shook his head and said nothing.
Itachi walked up to the huge doors at the building's main entrance, casting a dreary sight as the skin on a good portion of his torso and face was burnt away with his shihakushō suffering the same fate.
He clenched his left unburnt fist and threw a backhanded fist at the building. The shockwave that resulted from that simple motion destroyed and swept away the whole building complex down to its foundation.
The only thing that remained in the barren patch of ground now in front of them was a hole in the ground that carried stairs into its depths.
Whoever was behind this was likely down there with the infant heiress of the Kasumioji. Though it remained to be seen if there would still be a Kasumioji after today.
They were saved the effort of going down the tunnel when a series of loud coughs came out of the tunnel, growing louder and more intense as the owner came up out of the tunnels.
He looked like a genial soft-spoken old man with grey hair and round glasses. He walked with a slight hunch and bore a good-natured smile on his face as he came to stand before the Captains while waving away the dust around him.
"We—"
"The child. Where is she?" Ginrei stepped forward and asked with a completely flat voice.
The man smiled, not appearing the least bit bothered by being cut off or being surrounded. "I did contemplate killing her, you know. It would be doing everyone and not just me a service by finally ending that insipid line of weak-willed morons that called themselves 'Noble'. It would have been the easiest choice."
He took on a lecturing tone with his hands behind his back and started pacing left and right. One hand came loose and engaged his gesturing his words to his audience.
"I almost did, but I chose not to when I realized just how little her death would mean to me." His hand was back to his back as he stood before them with a huge grandfatherly soft smile. "So naturally, I decided to make her useful to me."
The smile became a permanent fixture of his lower face as the upper half slid right off. Ginrei was only interested in knowing the state of the child and nothing else. The moment he got what he wanted from the man was the moment the man's use expired.
"You were the last person I expected to make a move. One can only wonder why. A new piece token perhaps." A voice that could barely hide its sneer spoke out loud.
"He did fulfil his end of the deal so I guess his use had run out either way."
"Koga." Ginrei said as someone else walked out of the tunnels wearing a smile that was soft enough to be pleasant and just sharp enough to visibly mocking. "You had a hand in this?"
"What? Do you think something like this is below me, or am I above it?" Koga Kuchiki looked just as young as Byakuya but with more harsh lines on his face that made him look much older—the ever-present hate in his eyes made him look even more unforgiving.
"Where is Muramasa?" Ginrei asked when he saw that the noticeable Zanpakutō was not on his person or standing beside him.
The frown lines on Koga's face deepened while the mocking smile morphed into a malignant twist.
"Of course—" Koga accepted it with a nod but that was all he could do before half his body was obliterated with a sword stroke from Itachi.
"The fool did a good job. These Bakkoto are something else." The other of his body said as it was slowly engulfed in flames.
"You were… asking for… Muramasa… right? Don't worry…" the body managed to say before it was completely devoured.
"Find him. He must be close." Ginrei finally lost his detached composure, not to panic but to urgency.
"Was that decoy the ability from a Bakkoto or a Zanpakutō?" Yoruichi stared intently at the spot where the fake body of Koga had been a few seconds ago.
"Either is bad news. If he can now use Muramasa it will no longer be as simple as putting down a single Shinigami. If it is the Bakkoto then that thing is more dangerous than we thought. False souls, modified souls — if the distinction doesn't matter to Koga then we have a much bigger problem on our hands."
Byakuya saw Itachi turn away and quickly grabbed his arm before he could disappear. "Where are you going?"
"Where else?"
Ginrei and Yoruichi turned towards the two men.
"He's mine, Itachi." Byakuya could feel the anger radiating off Itachi and knew something must've happened. Something personal. He knew Itachi was in a state most were seeing for the first time.
This wasn't the righteous anger he showed against Aizen, or the cold hate he regarded Shuren with. Itachi was furious because someone had hurt him, Byakuya thought as he took in the man's appearance, hurt him deeper than any physical wound could.
Still he had to say it.
Itachi looked at him. It was a much different look than the calm composed face he was used to seeing.
"He's mine, Itachi." He stated clearly as he tightened the grip on Itachi's arm.
"Then find him." Itachi simply replied before bursting into crows and leaving Byakuya gripping nothing but dark feathers.
Byakuya frowned and then he was gone.
"Leave them we have to get the girl—" Ginrei stopped speaking as he saw another Yoruichi carrying the Kasumioji heiress out of the tunnel.
"He fused her with a Bakkoto." Yoruichi said with a tight frown on her face as the Yoruichi that had been here since the beginning faded away.
Not a clone. An afterimage, Ginrei realized simultaneously, one he never noticed even when she had been standing and speaking right beside him.
"Is she dying?"
"Not yet." Yoruichi looked at him with the same look she had a hundred years ago when she led the Onmitsukidō and was the one thing traitors hated. "The Tsunayashiro and the Kuchiki are now under investigation. Anything less than complete cooperation will invoke severe consequences."
He did not respond and she did not say anything after that. She left with the child while Ginrei stood still for a few seconds before shaking his head.
The Shiba weren't mentioned because of their destitute state. The Kasumioji didn't need to be said about. As for the Shihōin, well the reason she had flipped recently when a bare number of them were ousted was because of just how much time she had put into culling the number of traitors over a century ago. She was solely responsible for reducing the number of vassal clans and the overall population of the Shihōin Clan.
As it stood, only the Kuchiki and the Tsunayashiro were relatively safe and that alone was grounds for suspicion, especially when it came to dealing with old long-lived nobles.
He would leave Byakuya and his generation to deal with Koga. He had to return to his clan and personally make sure that the particularly stupid ones remain stupid no longer.
He could only let out a deprecating snort as he ran back to his clan at full speed.
'Letting the younger generation fix the mistakes of their predecessors. The curse of being a Shinigami.'
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