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Midday.
The outskirts of the 40th District of the North pulsed with life. Festivities raged within the town and spilled outward like ripples in a pond, laughter, drunken songs, and the distant rhythm of drums carrying even to the borders. Men and women danced under hanging lanterns, the air thick with the scent of roasted meats and cheap sake.
But far from the celebration, past the chatter and firelight, lay a stretch of wild, bushy terrain that marked the border between the 40th and 41st. Here, the world was quieter, save for the occasional rustle of leaves or the buzz of cicadas in the summer heat.
A lone figure sat cross-legged in the shade of a crooked tree. His breathing was measured, his eyes closed, a faint furrow between his brows. Sweat glistened on his forehead, catching the filtered sunlight. Resting across his lap was a rectangular-hilt wakizashi, its blade still sheathed but faintly humming every so often, as if whispering in a voice too low for the wind to carry.
For over thirty minutes he sat in stillness, until his eyes snapped open. They gleamed a brilliant sky-blue for an instant before the color faded, leaving him panting for breath. One hand instinctively clutched his chest.
"It was another failure, wasn't it, Minato…"
The voice was soft, feminine, yet carried the weight of disappointment.
"Sorasen…" Minato muttered, lifting his head. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet. "He's not even giving me a chance…" He ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp in frustration.
"And what exactly would you do with that chance?" she asked gently.
Minato's gaze turned distant, as if peering into a memory only he could see. "I just want to talk it out with him. The only reason I did what I did… was because I had no other choice. I was the Hokage. I couldn't let him go on a rampage and destroy the Leaf."
"I see…" Sorasen's voice softened further. "I opened up to you, Minato, because only you are deserving of wielding me."
He gave an awkward little chuckle. "Awww… thanks, Sorasen. That means a lot."
"Perhaps you need to get even stronger for him to acknowledge you. But that's not the point. He is your Zanpakutō spirit, just as I am. No matter how stubborn, he cannot remain locked away in that inner world forever. At some point, he will open up to you. The question is, will you be ready when he does?"
Her words struck home. Minato didn't answer right away. Instead, he slowly exhaled, letting the truth of her statement settle. "…Thanks, Sorasen."
He glanced toward the clearing ahead. Then, without warning, he dug into the tool pouch strapped to his lower back and drew four shuriken. In one smooth motion, he hurled them in different arcs.
The first barely nicked a tree before he was already in front of it, his form flickering in and out of sight. The second was caught mid-spin between his fingers. His movement was so sudden, so seamless, it was as if he had never moved at all, only appeared where he was needed.
By the time the last one was caught, he was smiling faintly. He slipped them back into his pouch.
"I see… you've inscribed each of your tools with my seal to allow teleportation to them. Resourceful…"
"I've got to be at my best, Sorasen," Minato replied. "These people won't go easy on me."
He settled against the base of the tree again, resting his head against the rough bark.
"You're the closest you've ever been to your best, Minato. But facing them now is unwise. Avoid them for now, continue your journey, grow stronger, and confront them when you hold all the cards."
He shook his head. "I can't keep hiding myself forever. Genma's with them… and I can't shake this feeling that something could happen to him. I need to see him. To know for sure that the Shinigami won't harm him. After that, I'll figure out my next move."
"…Ah. So that's what this is about. Even in death, your compassion for your loved ones remains admirable. But the Shinigami won't care about your compassion. They will use him to get to you… and when they do, you could lose this second chance."
Her voice cut like a blade, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he untied his forehead protector and held it in his palm. The metal was cold against his skin.
"You're talking like I'm dead already, Sorasen. What's next? My funeral?" He laughed lightly, not from humor, but as a way to navigate the heaviness pressing down on him.
"…I see. Your mind is made up. Then… good luck, Minato. You'll need it."
Her voice faded, retreating into silence. Minato tied his headband back in place, jaw set, fists clenching at his sides. The festival roared faintly in the distance, but out here, only the wind bore witness to his resolve.
---
40th District..
SWOOSH!
A lithe figure backflipped from the top of a tree, landing silently. Tanned skinned, purple hair. Her golden eyes focused as she crouched low, picking up the faint clues and traces of Reiatsu. "Interesting, very interesting.." She rose to he feet, laughing brazenly for a moment. Behind her, a man stepped out, with a tall build.
His hand rested on the blade that was strapped to his waist and he stared at the purple haired woman with an exhausted expression.
"It's been three days, Yoruichi. All our clues led here. We've barely found anything else. nothing. This has just been a wild goose chase.." He facepalmed. She rolled her eyes at him. "Nothing happens for no reason, Isshin.. Not even luck.." Her tongue clicked in amusement.
"You mean..." He thought for a moment. "Exactly. He's been tricking us, covering up his tracks and manipulating the surroundings well enough to fool even the Omnitsukido.. He's really good.." She laughed, turning to the tired bunch of ninja like Shinigami behind her and the group of Lieutenants standing beside them.
Yoruichi's smirk deepened as she strode forward, her steps light but deliberate. The night air carried the scent of damp earth and distant smoke, but more importantly, she could smell the faint traces of movement, a telltale swirl of air currents where someone had passed through hours ago.
"Look closely," she said, crouching beside a half-broken branch. Her golden eyes gleamed in the moonlight. "This isn't from a wild animal. It's been snapped just enough to look natural, but the fibers are angled away from the tree. That means he used it as a pivot, redirecting his landing so his footprints would lead the wrong way."
One of the membees of the Omnitsukido, a blonde girl tilted her head. "That's… a pretty advanced misdirection technique. Yoruichi Sama"
"Advanced?" Yoruichi chuckled. "Please. This is the work of someone who lives and breathes deception. He doesn't just hide from sight, he erases the story of his passing."
She flicked a pebble across the ground. It rolled into a patch of soft soil, where no footprints remained. "See this?" she continued. "He brushed away tracks with a thin reed or something similar, moving backwards so his retreat would look like he approached instead. Then he let the wind fill in the rest."
Isshin groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. "So you're saying every trail we've been following might've been him sending us in circles?"
"Exactly," Yoruichi replied with a feline grin. "He must have realized we were on him. So he mustve been layering his scent with residual spiritual traces from the environment. When you think you've got his reiatsu, you're really picking up the leftover traces from when he baited you into this area."
Rangiku sighed. Beside her, a bald dude with sore eyes and dark spots under them scratched his head. "But manipulating reiatsu signatures like that… isn't that something even most Captains can't do convincingly?"
Yoruichi's voice grew low, almost admiring. "It's not just reiatsu manipulation, it's predator thinking. This isn't the work of someone trained by the Gotei 13. He stalks, observes, learns how we hunt, then turns our own tracking patterns against us. Every moment we've been here, he's probably been watching from a place we'd never think to look."
Isshin sighed, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "Wonderful. So we're chasing a ghost who can think five moves ahead."
Yoruichi tilted her head toward the dense treeline. "Not a ghost, Isshin. A hunter who's making sure we look like fools while he moves freely in our territory. And the more I see of his handiwork…" Her grin widened. "…the more I'm starting to enjoy this."
"I regret coming. And it's your fault, Ikkaku!" A tall, slender even delicately handsome fellow shook his head. His distinctive purple hair was styled with a fringe with lower bangs framing his face. His eyelashes adorned with feathers.
"You're blaming me? Yumichika Captain Zaraki told me to come alone. You followed me!" The bald dude, Ikkaku raised his voice...
"Tsk! You described it like it was going to be some fun experience and now here we are in the middle of nowhere!" The delicate youth, Yumichika fired back and the two butted heads. It took another tall, slightly tanned bespectacled man with a neatly styled afro to get the two to calm themselves..
"So how do you propose we get him, Yoruichi?" Isshin asked pinching the bridge of his nose. All this was driving him crazy every single passing second.
"First of all. We need to stop underestimating him.. To think to do this.. He's no ordinary soul.." She spoke. "I need to think of him as someone on my level.." She muttered the last part to herself.
"Of course, he's no ordinary soul. He beat Kensei and two other Lieutenants.." Isshin sat on a small rock. "You're forgetting he did all that without a Bankai. It means two things, he's either too strong, or too intelligent." Yoruichi picked a clean spot and sat cross legged.
"And fast." Rangiku joined in the conversation, sitting beside the two Captains. Yoruichi nodded. "I've read the reports. But to use pure speed to overwhelm a Captain Class Shinigami and Lieutenants requires nothing short of an incredible battle intelligence and strategic thinking.. so I'm guessing it's the latter.."
Yoruichi thought for a moment and stated.
"Intelligent eh? Dealing with those smart asses is always a pain. Look at the Kurotsuchi fella. Every word from him makes we wanna punch him in his modified face.." Ishhin confessed, shaking his head.
"We need to think like him. Just where would someone as smart as him hide and why?" Yoruichi asked. Silence hung in the air.
"Maybe we should look at it differently. You're smarter than him, Captain Yoruichi. If you were in his shoes, what would you do?" An idea lit up in Rangiku's mind and then she asked, bringing a smile to Yoruichi's face.
"I guess there's two smart people around here. Try to keep up Isshin.." Yoruichi laughed, which causes Isshin's already downcast face to fall even further..
"If I was a murderer and a fugitive where would I go?"...
A/N: Sorry guys. Couldn't post yesterday. Anyways enjoy. See ya later. I'd love 2 reviews today. I might throw in an extra chapter for the reviews.