“It seems that something’s come up. There’s a Soul Reaper in town.” — Shinji Hirako.

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Four Shinigami stood in front of the Senkaimon waiting for the leader assigned to their group for the mission of investigating the rise in Hollow activity in a human town and also the origin of the Lieutenant level Reiatsu that flared up on numerous occasions in said town.

“I heard the last two groups that went to that town got wiped out. Scary~”

“Shut up you fool. We’ve got a Lieutenant with us and from what my Lieutenant told me, whoever is leading us will either be a Lieutenant or if we’re lucky a Captain.”

The Lieutenant who was with them could only scratch his head embarrassingly as he heard what the two Shinigami behind him were saying. Turning to the last person in their group, he couldn’t help but ask. “Is he really the one leading us?”

“Eh? Oh yeah, it’s him. I was a bit surprised when someone kicked me out of bed telling me I got an impromptu mission.” Junpei said while rubbing his eyes.

Kaien did not say anything after that. Initially this had been a mission he was to lead but the day before his Captain had called him over and told him that he was now going to act as an assistant to the Captain that will be leading them.

Captain Itachi Uchiha.

He might have expected any other Captain to take up this mission except this one in particular. As far as he knew, this Captain rarely went out on missions with a squad.

“Speak of the devil. He’s here.” He heard Junpei say. Unlike the others, he hid his surprise well in seeing Itachi already standing in front of the Senkaimon.

“Let’s go.” The Captain said.

They quickly activated the Senkaimon and they all jumped through, with Kaien and Junpei following immediately after Itachi.

Looking at the man in front of him, Kaien’s brows furrowed in confusion. Even with the restrictive seal in place he still couldn’t feel the man in front of him.

He was used to Captains making him feel like that but this Captain’s case was somehow different. It felt like his very presence fogged his mind.

“What do we do now, Captain?” He asked as they surveyed the city from above.

“We wait, Lieutenant Kaien.” The Captain simply replied before disappearing.

“Don’t take it too personally, he’s like that to everyone. I mean, not everyone, but as long as he did not straight out ignore you means he’s cool with you… I think.”

Kaien shook his head. “I don’t mind. I’m used to the eccentricities of the Captains. Trust me, he isn’t the worst of the bunch personality-wise.”

They descended and landed near a cemetery where they found the Captain bent down and looking at the ground.

“There was a fight here. Three Hollows and someone else. They died quick.”

“You’re right, Captain. I can still feel the lingering Reiatsu.” Kaien could still feel it but there was no way he could get as clean a picture with just his senses.

‘It must be those special eyes of his.’ Captain Uchiha’s special eyes weren't exactly a secret among the other Captains and the Lieutenants but most of them had never actually seen him using them on the field.

“Quite the strong ones too. Whoever dispatched them definitely is on the level of a Lieutenant.” Junpei said.

No one suspected the culprit of being Captain level because, well those at the Captain level weren’t exactly dime a dozen… literally.

“So are we looking for those involved? I don’t think it’ll be hard to track them down.” Kaien suggested as Itachi stood up. “There were at least three of them from the intel we got from the 12th Division.”

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At least they had confirmed that they weren’t dealing with the Quincies, if they remained. It was either runaway Shinigami or one of the rarer options.

“So which is it, Captain? We wait, or we look for our third party?” Junpei asked, standing beside Itachi.

Instead of answering, Itachi posed a question to the Lieutenant and his student. “What did the 12th Division say about the third party?”

Kaien tapped his chin in contemplation before snapping his fingers. “They lost them immediately after the fight was over…”

“Which means?”

“They are capable of evading the 12th Division’s sensory networks. And given that we haven’t heard a thing like this before means they are capable of hiding their tracks. Even from us.” He surmised.

Itachi nodded. “So instead of wasting our time putting together the few clues we have, it’s better if we complete our mission. And if it involves our third party then and only then will we make it our mission to sniff them out.”

Itachi who had already started walking turned to the two Shinigami and pointed at the sky, “And if they are as cautious as we suspect them to be then I doubt they missed the Senkaimon opening up.”

Kaien nodded with a wry smile on his face. “Which means they know a group of Shinigami are in town, and if they somehow sensed you they’ll go further into hiding.”

The Captain didn’t explicitly answer but Kaien figured out that this was the reason why he hid his presence right from the start. In other words, if the third party was already aware of their presence, they would only be cautious of Kaien’s presence – which is how it would have been had the Captain not included himself in the mission at the last second.

‘Did he truly intend for this right from the start… or maybe it’s just a series of aligning coincidence… Yeah, I think not.’

He heard Junpei snickering at his side and the youths' words flowed soon. “Don’t think too much about it. I wouldn’t put it past him. And if that’s the case, you’ll probably be leadin-”

Itachi’s voice cut through before Junpei finished speaking. “Hollow activity northeast. You’ll be taking charge till further notice, Lieutenant Kaien.”

And like that he was gone.

If he was ignorant of the special circumstances surrounding the mission and the reason behind Captain Uchiha’s covert actions, he might have thought the reputable Captain was dropping his duties on him. So at the end he could only shake his head and resume command of the confused group.

‘At the end, nothing changed.’

……

[POV: With Itachi]

On the other side, Itachi hid amongst tree branches as he contested if he really should take this course of action.

‘I truly don’t understand why you second guess your actions at such late points.’ Amaterasu chastised.

‘It’s a habit I cultivated from a young age. It decreases the chances of regret if it doesn’t work out.’ The Shinigami replied.

‘We both know you are not going to change your mind so just get on with it.’

Itachi could only shake his head as he leapt into action.

He had suspected it but the battleground at the cemetery proved it even if the Reiatsu was slightly different.

Something had happened to draw the estranged Captains into action and he was going to find out what directly from their mouths.

He could go to Kisuke Urahara but given the man’s inactivity and also Aizen’s lookout, he decided against it. And from what little he knew concerning Kisuke’s group and the Hollowfied Captains, they weren’t exactly in a relationship of equals.

The Reiatsu he picked up no doubt belonged to Kensei Mugurama and Miyako Shiba, the wife of Lieutenant Shiba, who he just passed his duty on to.

‘There was no reason for this to be more complicated than it already is.’ Maybe he was becoming more sentimental but he couldn’t really say that it was a bad thing. It was partly his fault (he wholly believed so) that he couldn’t oust Aizen on time and ended up halving the Soul Society’s core strength.

He could already feel the fight happening, one he wasn’t bothered by given that both Kaien and Junpei were there. Even without the addition of Kaien, he could trust Junpei to take care of the small disturbance on his lonesome.

He stopped in front of a waterfall and with a swipe of his hand he easily cut through the illusion of it and passed through.

‘Setting up a natural illusion is a wise choice but it ended up basically announcing to me that it wasn’t entirely natural.’

‘Looks like we have company. Best be prepared. We could end up potentially fighting a group of aggrieved Captains.’ Tsukuyomi cautioned just moments before Itachi sidestepped and dodged the blade aiming for his neck, only to have someone else creep up behind him with their blade to his throat.

“Fancy seeing you here, Captain Itachi.”

“Good to see you too, Lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru.”

The blade flexed against his throat gleamed dangerously but he remained wholly unperturbed.

“Why are you here? Did the Soul Society send only you to bring us in?” Miyako Shiba questioned as she stood before him with her fist tightened around her weapon.

A voice sounded out as their surroundings changed. “How about we calm down, right girls?”

“We are all here to talk, aren’t we?” His eyes squinted at Itachi. “Right?”

“Not much of a talk when you have me at drawn blades.” Itachi responded.

Shinji laughed before all the humor suddenly disappeared from his face. “Don’t patronize me. Let. Them. Go.”

Miyako and Lisa couldn’t react fast enough before their fogged eyes cleared and they found themselves in the same position they had ‘Itachi’ pinned down in.

Shinji nodded and gestured for Itachi to follow. “You wanted to talk, right? Let’s talk.”

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