30 Chapter 30 - A Show and Tell

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'Am I being too hasty?' This was the thought that plagued Itachi's mind as he stood in the training ground surrounded by the spectating Captains.

It was a thought that occurred very much to him hence why he was having a hard time figuring it out.

As an individual, especially someone of his capabilities, Itachi has always been resolute in his decisions and dealing, same with the consequences that come with those decisions.

He never let out a word of opposition even when they said to observe his skills against one of their own as this was something he knew they would do. After all, the Hidden Villages did the same thing.

No Kage would accept a foreign Jonin into their ranks without a thorough scrutiny of their abilities. It was a very strict process for long term undercover ninjas with those kinds of missions, unlike how calm and laid back these Captains were.

'With how diverse their abilities are, I guess it makes sense when every single Shinigami has the potential to have unique abilities.'

He watched as a female Shinigami walked into the training grounds after greeting the Captains and stood across from him.

The Lieutenant, Lisa Yadomaru, as Itachi heard them call her, was a bespectacled woman with turquoise eyes and a long braided ponytail swinging behind her.

"Don't look so confused, Lisa-chan. We want you to fight this man, Itachi, here." Her Captain said smilingly. "Oh, and you don't need to hold back at all. Call it our genuine curiosity, if you will. You don't mind that, do you, Itachi?"

Itachi shook his head. No need to be worried about it as this was something foreign/rogue ninjas go through when joining any formal military group.

"Well then. You guys can start anytime you want." As Shunsui said that, he and the other Captains moved further backwards to give the two combatants enough space.

Facing Itachi who was a stranger, the female Shinigami introduced herself. "I'm Lisa Yadomaru, Lieutenant of the 8th Division."

"Itachi Uchiha." He returned the gesture and drew out his sword.

They stood, sizing each other up, one curious while the other contemplating.

Seeing how she was still trying to get a read on him, Itachi took her consideration with appreciation and attacked first.

Her eyes widened and she reacted with a block as she suddenly saw Itachi attacking her with a speed that honestly left her surprised.

Before she could back out to regain her balance, she felt his hand on her shoulders and next thing she knew was that she was being thrown to the ground. With her decades of experience, along with the capability that came with being Shunsui's Kyōraku's Lieutenant, she grabbed onto Itachi's hand holding her shoulders and used it as a leverage to twist herself into balance midair and kicked his chest to push herself away.

'He's strong.' For experienced fighters, if a glance wasn't enough to gleam the strength class of an opponent, then the initial clash would. Now she understood why her Captain said not to hold back, but to her defense, half the things that came from his mouth were not to be taken seriously.

She steadied her breath and held her sword to Itachi. She nodded at him and that began the next salvo of attacks.

Itachi faced her as she pointed her palms at him, something he had seen Yoruichi do, and like he was mindful of, the familiar attack came. "Hadō #31: Shakkahō"

He dodged the red blast that shot at him and crossed the small distance between them and slashed a feint with his sword only to kick her in the sides which was hastily blocked.

Lisa grunted under the force of the kick only to look perplexed as smoke started coming from Itachi's mouth. Her senses warned her but before she could jump back, Itachi swung his sword to her left side, promptly reducing her retreat path to one.

She saw Itachi grind his teeth and produced a spark from it that ignited the ash and exploded it on them.

The two of them detached from each other but it was clear that she was the only one who suffered from that close ranged attack.

It was clear to the Captains that none of the two were going all out, simply feeling the depths of their opponents, except that one was on the back leg. Just as the Captains were observing Itachi, Itachi was using Lisa as a prodding lab test to gleam further into how the Shinigami fought.

So far, apart from their movement technique, the 'Hadō' technique they used was awfully similar to ninjutsus.

Watching her as one of her hands weaved a few hand signs, Itachi heard her invoke a new attack.

"Bakudo #60: Raitoningushikkusukēji"

Itachi quickly looked up and above him was a charging lightning ball that immediately shot down six lightning streams, effectively binding him within a lightning cage.

Unfortunately, this was a show and tell and Itachi knew he had to show his abilities to reduce their suspicion of him.

Lisa had been in the middle of chanting a reduced Hadō chant when Itachi within the lightning cage disappeared in a puff of smoke and left behind a log of wood.

A slight creak of her neck showed the reflective surface of a sword held over her shoulders.

"Is this enough?" Itachi asked, not just to her but also the Captain's watching.

They all held intrigued smiles but none of them said anything to stop the fight.

Though none of them said anything, it was pretty obvious that they wanted to see the 'eclipse' between Itachi and Lisa, strength wise.

He was leading her on and they all knew it, reacting to her attacks instead of pressing her on with his, and that made him sigh as he lifted his sword from her shoulders.

Lisa put a distance between them, an utmost serious look cast on her face, slamming her sword into its sheath and holding it over her head.

She slowly pulled it out, intoning as she did so. "Tsubuse(Smash), Haguro Tonbo". Her Reiatsu burst out in a turbulent wave and her sword underwent a transformation.

From the normal sleek katana she once held, now held with both hands was a long polearm with a Monkspade blade on one end and a ball on the other.

Instead of treating this as a spar of equals, Lisa looked at the fight between them as a no-holds-barred duel after truly understanding why her Captain said to fight with all she had. Anything short of that would ensure her loss.

Whether he needed to or not, Itachi responded in kind by holding his sword in a slanting angle and activating his Shikai.

"Terase, Tsukuyomi(Illuminate, Tsukuyomi)"

Honestly speaking, Itachi's Shikai wasn't all that impressive if one had a subliminal control over their Reiatsu, but that didn't mean it was useless in most cases.

Unlike with Lisa's Shikai release, Itachi's blade didn't have any visible changes on it which confused the spectating Captains and his opponent. If not for the burst in his Reiatsu, they would have thought he just said those words, well all of them except for Yoruichi who had an inkling on what Itachi did.

It was all a leading play.

Lisa pushed on her attack and thrust her polearm at Itachi who narrowly dodged it. Upon seeing the slight opening, she twisted her left arm and the polearm wobbled and changed direction towards Itachi who faltered behind.

The polearm speared towards Itachi's legs and Itachi used his sword to stab the ground, effectively blocking the polearm, all his actions being seen through by Lisa's calculating gaze.

Slightly drawing her polearm back, she twisted it and send it ball end towards Itachi who was still kneeling from the force of her thrust but as soon as the polearms end reached near him, Lisa's cold gaze faltered as another Itachi jumped over the kneeling one's shoulder and parried the polearm with his sword, leaving her open for the one still kneeling, well no longer kneeling as he drove a knee into her exposed abdomen that sent her flying backwards like a shooting star – only for her to crash into something and feel someone holding her in a chokehold.

A third Itachi.

She trembled as she saw the two Itachi's in front of her weave some hand signs and bring their hands towards their mouth which only opened to spout out two huge balls of fire that joined together into one and blazed towards her.

-!

"Lisa-chan! What are you doing?!"

She jumped back in shock and frantically looked around her, not seeing the giant fireball or the person holding her, or even a second Itachi.

"Why are you just standing there Lisa-chan?" She turned towards her slightly frowning Captain.

"Wha– I thought…" She looked over at Itachi who was still in the same spot her stood after activating his Shikai.

'Did he activate his Shikai?' She thought, thoroughly confused.