Chapter 93 - Infiltrating Las Noches

"The Village… the clan… shinobi. Is fighting… inevitable?" — Itachi Uchiha.

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[Coyote Starrk POV]

Starrk , despite the lax expression on his face, wondered curiously why was their current situation so. Granted neither he nor Lilynette had had that much confrontation with a Shinigami for however long they've been alive but still he knew a few things about the sword wielding Soul Reapers.

They were in no way friendly with Hollows.

They never came to Hueco Mundo, probably because they didn't have a way to access this realm of Hollows, but that didn't stop them from declaring any Hollow caught outside of Hueco Mundo a threat that needed to be put down at all cost, even at the expense of their own life.

Shinigami and Hollow. They were natural enemies.

So why? Why was this Shinigami, who obviously(to him) was very suspicious of them, letting them come along with him as he traversed the never ending dunes of this pale white world.

Itachi Uchiha was an enigma to Starrk, a thought that amused him a tiny bit because he was sure that was probably the same way the Shinigami saw him and Lilynette.

"If you want to know more about Hueco Mundo, you know you'll have to visit this Las Noches place right?" Starrk didn't need to remind Itachi of something he probably knew, but he found himself saying it anyway. "Well, you'll probably die the moment you're found out, which is also instantly, if you go there."

"Starrk, let's go there if Itachi doesn't want to. Why should we listen to him anyway? He's a Shinigami, he obviously doesn't want us allying with a camp of strong Hollows."

He smiled wryly on seeing Lilynette snort while sneaking a peek at Itachi for his reaction, snorting even more when she saw that he ignored her.

"Itachi, what is the end goal – the conclusion per se – for you being here?" Starrk asked, no longer holding himself when they came across another group of Hollows that were too stupid to not sense the intensity of the Reiatsu covering them.

'He's very hard to read. He is also skilled, maybe…' Starrk shook his head, not feeling entirely sober enough to evaluate someone that could potentially be an enemy at any moment's time.

"To search for someone's footprint." Was Itachi's curt reply. "What about you? You don't exactly strike me as a particularly violent Hollow. Instead of remaining in solitude, why haven't you gone out to look for Hollows like you?"

Starrk held onto Lilynette's shoulder before she could lash out and strike at Itachi. "You think we haven't tried?"

Unlike the brash Lilynette, he, Starrk, could understand. Itachi didn't mean it as a poking question but instead as a way of offering a suggestion and wanting to know what happened if they did.

It wasn't in any way he moved his body or the tone of his voice, no. It was the blank dark eyes that stared at them from time to time to, Starrk could tell.

"This is a very large world, Itachi." The way he said it made Itachi understand as the man turned his head forward. "And it's not as if Hollows like us are exactly commonplace. The majority of Hollows running around Hueco Mundo are weak and lacking sufficient intellect."

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[Itachi Uchiha POV]

"You do know that I'll be leaving soon, right?"

They were now seated around a fire that Itachi had set up, even though none of them needed it, with Lilynette using Starrk's lap as a pillow to sleep.

Starrk chuckled with a soft smile in his eyes. "Careful. You're making it a bit obvious that you're concerned."

Itachi remained silent at that and just stared at Starrk long enough for the man to know that he was serious.

"You're awfully compassionate for a Shinigami." Starrk remarked. "I don't know. You're going to Las Noches, right?"

Itachi nodded, not bothering to ask how the man knew. As much as he didn't want to, he had to be sure that Aizen didn't have any foothold in Hueco Mundo and that he hadn't struck some ominous deal with this Hollow King Baraggan.

His chances of a successful infiltration was within the range of 20% – 80% because he had no idea of the capabilities of the Hollows in Las Noches, but that didn't mean he wouldn't undergo his mission. Lack of sufficient information had never stopped a Shinigami from undertaking a mission.

"We'll go with you. I —we want to see the Hollows, how they coexist." Starrk gave a dry chuckle. "Well, given how Hollows usually are, I don't doubt that they won't be anything like what I'm expecting them to be."

Lilynette stirred awake during their talk, which also signaled the continuation of their journey.

At this point, Itachi had spent a few days in Hueco Mundo, where the majority of it was spent in the company of Starrk and Lilynette – two very peculiar Hollows.

"Are we any closer?" A bored Lilynette asked yet again, almost causing Itachi to groan out his budding frustration, which she was very much taking pleasure in.

"If that Adjuchas' words are to be believed then it shouldn't take much longer for us to see it on the horizon." He replied. Traversing Hueco Mundo was a very difficult and tiring task with how there were hardly any objects or locations to use as a watermark to gain an accurate sense of direction.

With Itachi leading the way, it didn't take long for Itachi to spot the humongous architecture miles away.

"I'm guessing walking through the front door is a no-go." Starrk stated as they watched the white huge construct off in the distance.

"What do you mean we can't? We actually can since we're Hollows. Itachi will have to sneak in and make sure he doesn't get caught and consequently killed." Lilynette said with a finger jabbed in Itachi's direction.

Itachi turned around to leave, startling the two Hollows as he was leaving without so much as a word.

"You're leaving? Just like that?" Lilynette cried out.

Itachi replied but didn't stop to look around. "This will most likely be the last time we'll see each other. No need to make it more drawn out than it has to be."

And with that he was gone.

"Is he…"

"He's gone, Lilynette. We might not see him again like he said, and there's nothing we can do about it. But what we can do is enter Las Noches and see if there are any others like us." Starrk said softly and walked forward with a pouting Lilynette at his side.

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With Itachi, after separating from Starrk and Lilynette, he immediately began his infiltration into the white fortress; the first thing he picked up was how littered the place was with Hollows.

Most of their Reiatsu were controlled which cleared the way for Itachi and also made it easier for him to pick out the strong ones.

Even from where he was, which was him barely managing to get inside after distracting the squad of Hollows manning the gate, Itachi could feel a very dark and oppressive Reiatsu coming from the center of Las Noches.

'Such immense presence. This Hollow King is definitely not one to be trifled with. Vasto Lorde Hollows are truly dangerous.'

From the outer ring of Las Noches, Itachi knew he had to be slow and fast at the same time, getting closer to Baraggan's presence was a necessary risk he had to take as any useful information he could get would be from Hollows stationed closer to Baraggan.

'Killing them is also not advisable, unless absolutely necessary. Their Reiatsu suddenly disappearing will no doubt alert the others.'

'The risk surrounding your current actions outweighs any information you might gain. What if Aizen doesn't have any ties with the Hollows? What if he can't access Hueco Mundo like you suspect? What if everything turns out to be a wasteful effort spurred on by your paranoia?'

He knew Amaterasu's words were full of merit but he just couldn't sit still and leave a known variable unaccounted for. He'd rather be sure that he was wrong than being skeptical of if he could be right.

'It's an accounted risk, Amaterasu.' Running up a pillar, he twisted his legs and pushed himself off the pillar with a spin and a flip that sailed him into an open partition of a building adjacent to the pillar he ran on.

From where he stood he could sense a few fights going on in different parts of Las Noches, given the way the loser's Reiatsu was sniffed out followed by their opponent's spiking, it didn't take a genius to realize that the Hollows were feeding on those who lost.

"This could work."

"Huh? Who are y—"

A stare at the unfortunate Hollow made them faint while violently twitching. He couldn't exactly copy the tainted feel of a Hollows Reiatsu but a few Kidō spells and he could get something close to it, and further complimenting it with a transformation jutsu and Itachi was good to go.

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