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What is the essence of the soul? If the core essence of every living being is the soul, then for souls existing as is, what is the core part of the soul?

……..

‘These arts are really advanced, more so than any jutsu, fundamentally speaking.’

Those were Itachi’s honest thoughts after trying his hand at the art the Shinigami used – Kidō.

Kidō was the encompassing term of all the exoteric arts a Shinigami learns during his time in the Academy, which is used in conjunction with their own combat abilities for a qualitative round up.

Kidō is made up of three different branch of the art;

Hadō – The Art of Destruction. Composed of supplementary and destructive techniques, all capable of terrifying magnitudes of destruction depending on the mastery of the person using it.

Bakudō – The Art of Sealing. And just like its name, it is an entire branch made up of supplementary, restraining, sealing and counterattack techniques.

Kaidō – Healing Arts. This branch of Kidō is focused entirely on healing.

Unlike Kaidō, Hadō and Bakudō had a large and extensive range of different techniques under them, numbering from zero to ninety-nine, excluding special and forbidden techniques.

Though it ultimately came down to affinity and aptitude to excel in any area of Kidō, the fact that these techniques were open for any Shinigami to learn - offensive, sealing and healing techniques - already makes the average Shinigami with the minimum affinity for them a more balanced warrior than most he’s seen.

His genuine surprise was understandable as back in the Elemental Nations, apart from the basic ninjutsu ninjas learn when still a genin, every other jutsu is a strongly safeguarded secret from everyone else. It was a practice every ninja village had in place that the instance of any high ranking jutsu falling into enemy hands could literally spark the embers for a war.

“The destructive and effective range of Hadō and Bakudō is truly something fascinating.”

Lightning, fire, ice, energy drain, repel, gravity, space, light, healing, darkness, energy manipulation – all these and more were properties that Kidō covered.

While he wasn’t a connoisseur for techniques, finding it wasteful and amateurish to learn an extensive number of techniques and being unable to use a respectable percentage of it in battle, learning how they worked and how to counter them was something he enjoyed doing even as a child.

He almost let out a wistful smile at that but the memories that came with it squashed the little bubbling atmosphere around him.

The techniques were a lot, 200+ for Hadō and Bakudō, but he never thought of learning all of them. If it wasn’t something that compliments his fighting style, he wouldn’t bother learning it, no matter how powerful the technique was.

Even before his death, his repertoire of jutsu was very few compared to most of the people he knew.

Take Kakashi for example; even as a child he had the ability of copying his opponent techniques which was possible with his transplanted Sharingan, going over to copy over a hundred techniques and yet he could never draw out a single percentage of that number in a fight.

Truly a waste of the eye’s abilities in Itachi’s opinion.

He pointed one finger at a boulder in the distance and chanted a simple Kidō spell. One he had seen Yoruichi, Soi Fon and Lisa use, having been at the end of it for a comfortable number of times.

“Hadō #4: Byakurai.”

A wave of lightning exploded from his fingertips with his Reiatsu advancing destructively. The lightning wave evaporated the top of the boulder and melted the other parts to molten slag.

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A basic Hadō spell yet it trumped the basic lightning jutsu most ninjas with lightning affinity use. Such an effective range and potency…

“And I don’t have an affinity for the lightning element.” He said to himself. “Probably why I can easily use jutsu with similar affinities with these destructive elements.”

Another thing he was quick to notice about the Shinigami were that most of them with Shikai used Kidō sparingly, instead focusing more on their Zanpakutō’s abilities.

Yoruichi and Soi Fon relied on Kidō and speed in their combat style along with the whole Stealth Corps, that he understood, even though he was yet to see Yoruichi’s with her Zanpakutō, this was however not the case with other Shinigami.

Even when he was fighting Lisa in front of the Captains, he easily noticed how she cut back on using Kidō spells and switched to creating attacks with her Zanpakutō after her Shikai release.

Unlike the rest of the Shinigami population, he didn’t have to bother with struggling with how to channel his Reiatsu when chanting a Kidō spell. He spent some of his time learning them while for some, all he needed was a glance at someone using it, at least for the simpler ones.

This was why he entertained Soi Fon’s request for spars anytime they were free; he always made sure to copy the Hadō spells he felt would compliment him.

“I knew I would find you around here somewhere.” He didn’t turn around at the sudden voice behind him who had her finger pointing at his neck. “Aren’t you getting too comfortable for me to be able to sneak up on you like this?”

“No.”

“Eh?”

“You were the one who let your guard down,” Itachi replied.

Yoruichi stared dumbfounded as she saw her finger pointing at nothing, no not nothing – she was pointing her hand the same way Itachi did with his Byakurai, and he was behind her with a finger to her neck in the exact same way and posture she had done to him, but without the smug grin which she was no longer wearing.

“How did you…?” She looked at him, his Zanpakutō still in its dormant state sheathed to his waist. ‘Is it?’

Itachi removed his finger from her neck and put a respectable space between the both of them because you can never tell when Yoruichi wants to lean in for a cat-swop as she so aptly put it.

“You’re picking up Kidō rather well, not like I’m that surprised.” She said with a smirk.

She had easily figured out that Itachi could not only copy someone’s attack pattern midfight with nigh-perfect accuracy, but also their Kidō spells. Though to what limit was what she didn’t have an exact answer for.

Yoruichi knowing about his Sharingan abilities meant nothing to him. In his life, all five major Hidden Villages knew about the ocular dōjutsu of his clan. He had never considered the basic Sharingan’s abilities as a secret worth keeping at all cost.

Which meant Yoruichi lost another chance to strongarm and prod him for more answers.

“Any reason why you were seeking me out in the first place?” He asked.

She rolled her eyes and wiggled her finger disapprovingly at him. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a boring conversation partner to have?”

“Yes.”

Yoruichi sighed and temporarily gave up on drawing out more words from him and instead told him what she came here for.

“Nothing pressing. But I heard that you were asking around for information on the Noble Houses. Mind telling me why the sudden interest in annoying and stuck up nobles?”

“Nothing important, just mild curiosity.” Itachi said, and continued on smoothly. “The watchers you had all over the Seireitei were annoying to lose.”

Yoruichi’s face didn’t display any ounce of expression of surprise to show that she was affected at being found out.

“You had my best trackers running circles so you don’t get to complain.” She commented lightly as if giving a passive remark. She looked at Itachi and if she was being honest, he was a walking contradiction of multiple red flags. “You’re making it harder for me to trust you, Itachi.”

“And is there a reason why you are in a haste to find a reason to trust me?” Itachi replied to her statement.

“Just so I can prove that my choice wasn’t wrong and I won’t have to kill you for it.” She said simply.

For a minute, Itachi just stared at her before finally nodding. “I can leave if that’ll help. But I guess even that won’t be as simple as just working through the gates, right?”

“And why do you sound so calm about it all?”

“Because I speculated that something of a similar scenario like this one is a large possibility.”

Her neutral face staring at him suddenly burst out into a fit of soft giggles. “Hold on, tough guy. Your neck is not on the chopping board yet.”

“Is that all you came here for?”

“Honestly, yeah.” She shrugged. “A few of the Captains don’t trust you as a fellow Shinigami.”

“An obvious reaction.” He said. He then sighed and regarded Yoruichi with a serious gaze. “What do you want from me, Yoruichi?”

“A mission.” She replied immediately. She knew he was likely still averse to receiving orders from anyone and the look he gave her said it all. “Investigation.”

“And also a probational test, I assume.” He added, both still staring at the other. “You have your trackers, don’t you?”

“But none of them can pick up energy particles as well as you do.”

“The ones who disappeared?” He asked and she nodded.

“Let’s just say it might be more than that and leave it at that. Kisuke thinks there might be a conspiracy behind this, and before you ask, you are not the only one going, but you will be the only one working alone.” She finally regarded him with a smile. “So? Mind helping a lady out?”

Itachi’s mind had already gone through a string of likely probable things to happen if he took on this mission and they all ranged from but not limited to, ambush, assassination, a public execution, kidnapping, defamation… etc.

‘Well, better out there than in here.’ Itachi thought.