Hoping everyone of you had a splendid crossover, because I did. Here's to hoping 2024 is our best year yet, 🥂.

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“Why are you just standing there Lisa-chan?! You’re making me look bad.” Shunsui teased even as he was inwardly confused as to what happened.

He turned to the other Captains but Yoruichi beat them to it before they could sound their confusion.

“It’s his Shikai. It’s an illusion-type Zanpakutō, a quite tricky one at that.” She said. She and Kisuke, being the only two that knew of his Shikai beforehand, were intently watching Itachi to see how his Shikai works.

She turned to her friend who was stroking his chin as he looked at Lisa who looked terribly confused. “It’s selective. His illusion.”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“He means that it’s not just her mind that’s seeing things, he can also make it a visible mirage.” Unohana commented knowingly, “It’s also why some of you didn’t notice the change in his sword. It’s a very small and imperceptible illusion, but it’s effective since it affected us. Some of us at least.”

“Captain Unohana is right. He concealed the change in his Zanpakutō from everyone, his initial illusion, yet Lieutenant Lisa is possibly under an entirely different one judging from how worked up she is.” Kisuke explained for his fellow Captains to understand. “I’m afraid her loss is guaranteed. She might have had a chance, but that dropped to single percentages when he activated his Shikai.”

“Using Illusions? What kind of weak shit is that? And here I thought he’d put up a spectacular fight since two Captains were vouching for his strength. Pathetic.” Kenpachi snorted as he lost a lot of interest in Itachi after that little exposé.

Down below, sweat trickled down Lisa’s head as she struggled to get a hold on herself and the switch between real and fake.

“Nijū Ichijō Tonbokudari.” She shouted and started thrusting and slashing her polearm in fast strikes that it caused her hands and weapon to turn into a blur.

Faced with her haphazard and controlled attack, Itachi figured he might as well use this chance to test out some of his Shikai’s abilities.

He slashed the place in front of his legs twice and let his Reiatsu flow freely through Tsukuyomi, “Hakanai Eizō(Ephemeral Reflection)”

To those watching, it looked as if nothing Itachi was doing had anything effect, ones at least visible, but to Lisa it was all clear.

Her attacks that she saw hitting Itachi started hitting what felt like mirror-reflections of the man, fading away with every attack she landed.

Pissed off at how confusingly hard it was to get a serious hit on her opponent, she intoned a shorten Kidō chant, “Hadō #32: Ōkasen.”

A bright yellow flash of light covered everything in front of her, even taking Itachi by surprise who was a little too late to quickly react.

He held his sword against him as the beam swept past him, pushing him violently to the side while he used his sword to mitigate most of the damage.

He had barely pushed himself out of the beam's path when he saw Lisa’s polearm's bladed edge extending towards him. He did not have much choice and met the polearm with his sword which pushed him sliding back with a silent grunt due to the weighted force behind it.

‘The more I put her under Illusions the more adapted her reaction becomes, even if she doesn’t break out of it.’ Itachi thought. Unlike a few powerful genjutsus, normal genjutsus were easy to break out from. Given, he wasn’t using his Sharingan in tandem with Tsukuyomi as he wanted to see how Tsukuyomi’s genjutsu holds up against the Vice Captain before him.

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‘Better to cast the illusion on myself. A focused genjutsu on her will force her instincts and Reiatsu to adapt and react in any way even if not completely.’

He quickly understood that though his illusions worked well on the woman before him, it wasn’t infallible and its strength was boosted if he used his Sharingan with it.

“Well, this has been quite knowledgeable for me.”

They clashed again, sword and polearm in constant connection with each other, but unlike Lisa who was struggling to gain a clear advantage, Itachi was looking at the effects and reaction his abilities had on her.

As they clashed, he once again used his ‘Ephemeral Reflection’ but on himself this time instead of her. The effect it had this time was different as even Itachi felt as if his movements were a haze.

To Lisa, numerous copies of Itachi overlapped with each other, making it even harder for her to know where to strike and where to expect an attack from as multiple hands attacked at once.

She thrust her polearm with one hand and used another to create a barrier and another one in alarm as she felt her polearm get parried while at the same time Itachi’s sword impacted her barrier.

“What? How?” She said in surprise, and not only her, even Itachi and the Captains were surprised as they too felt and saw his blade strike two places with an impacted feedback.

“Hadō #1: Sho!” The barrier she created vibrated and reverberated a strong repulsive force that smashed into the collection of Itachis, intending to force him back but that wasn’t happening as the overlapping Itachis burst into smoke and black feathers, resulting in a recently familiar situation.

Itachi stood behind her with a shortened sword to her throat.

Lisa closed her eyes despondently and deactivated her Shikai. “I give up.” She said, not really having much of a choice as she wasn’t even sure how many times she landed a hit on him. ‘Three, no, five times… I think.’

Itachi removed his blade that quickly lengthened as his Shikai deactivated as he slid it back into its sheath. The fight was interesting to say the least and not just to him, but also the spectators watching.

“Well, Captain Shiba and Captain Yoruichi weren’t kidding. He’s strong. Not exactly a power-type Zanpakutō but it seems to fit him somehow.” Jushiro Ukitake commented loudly, earning nods from some of the Captains.

He and the others turned to Yamamoto who just stood off to the side watching the whole fight in silence.

He made a deep rumbling hum as he turned around, walking back to his office. “Captain Shihōin, his duties are under your discretion.”

“Hmph! You still owe me a fight brat. Don’t forget that.” Kenpachi declared before leaving the remaining Captains there and going back to his Division’s barrack.

One by one the Captains left, leaving only Yoruichi, Kisuke and Shunsui alone with Itachi and Lisa.

“Don’t feel down, Lisa-chan, you did well. As well as you could anyway.” The kimono-wearing Captain laughed at the glare the upset Lieutenant sent him.

“I’ll be going now.” She gave a lazy salute and disappeared from the training grounds, causing Shunsui to follow after her with a stream of laughing apologies.

“Hello there, young man. I’m Kisuke Urahara, Captain of the 12th Division. Yoruichi told me you have some questions you might need answers for, so you can visit me when you have time as I'd like to have some talks with you. See you later, and I’ll drop by the Second later tonight, Yoruichi.”

Kisuke lazily waved at them and wobbled as he walked out, looking like he might tumble with every step he took. It turns out his sleepy look wasn’t just a look after all.

“Well, come on. I’ll show you to the 2nd Division’s barrack, where you’ll be staying until further notice.” She said and led him out as they slowly walked down the streets of the Gotei 13. “So how is it? Still feeling lost yet?”

“Lost?” Itachi looked at her confusedly which brought her to a chuckling fit.

“Even though I look like this, I’m over a century old and that look on your face is something I’ve seen on a few faces. My guess is war, am I right?” She said with an expressionless smile. His expressions were always a leading edge he wore to observe people’s reactions but to Yoruichi, it was more than that. To her, that was the scope of emotions he could show on his face.

Itachi said nothing, half remembering how easy it was for century old souls to walk around the Soul Society and half pondering where Yoruichi was going with this.

“For once I’m not trying to get an advantage over you. I’ll be the first person to tell you that this place isn’t home, can hardly ever be, even after spending centuries in it. But face it, it’s a pit stop for those without purpose but drive, far better than living blindly out there.”

“What are you trying to say, Lady Yoruichi?” Itachi asked.

“First of all, just call me Yoruichi, and secondly, take it as picking the better choice of two last options. This is no heaven, you know that, but it can be the next thing to peace you can find.” She suddenly stopped and looked Itachi dead in the eye.

“You journeyed straight to the Seireitei, even taking your time slowing down, not because you are desperate for information but to explore the only choice you have in death.”

“Choices?”

She nodded. “Yes. A peaceful life in the Rukongai, or a semblance of normalcy in the Seireitei. How do I know? It’s something most war hardened warriors have a problem with at the end of every war.”